‘Unwise to cut ties with Myanmar’
ATROCITIES: Malaysia, Asean neighbours should keep pressuring Naypyidaw, says human rights activist
IT is unwise to cut diplomatic ties with the Myanmar government over the atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims, said Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy (Centhra) chief executive officer Azril Mohd Amin.
He said it would affect bilateral relations with Myanmar and added that Malaysia along with other Asean member states should instead continue to put diplomatic pressure on Myanmar.
“In the spirit of Asean, we do not have to go to that extent (of severing diplomatic ties) because there is still room for diplomacy and we have other aspects of bilateral relations that are good.
“However, we should keep pressuring Myanmar and get other Asean members to voice out their stand on what is happening to the Rohingya,” he said after the International Seminar on Islam and Global Peace at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia here yesterday.
Azril, who spoke on the refugee issue and its challenges to global peace at the seminar, recommended that Asean set up a human rights tribunal or court to address the issue.
“We do not have a proper mechanism to deal with this issue like the European Court of Human Rights.
“Therefore, we should form one for Asean.
“What we have now are only commissions for women and children, as well as migrant workers. A human rights court would provide a proper forum for disputes among Asean countries.”
Echoing his sentiments, Global Movement of Moderates Foundation (GMM) chief executive office Datuk Dr Nasharudin Mat Isa urged Asean member states to keep on putting diplomatic pressure on Myanmar to come up with solutions for the matter.
He also urged non-governmental organisations and relevant bodies to press the Myanmar government to respect the basic principles that constitute the Langkawi Declaration on the Global Movement of Moderates ratified by Asean countries last year.
“The Myanmar government has to respect the Asean Charter, which emphasises basic human rights and freedoms.
“They must not forget that they are party to the agreement.
“The diplomatic pressure could come in the form of rallies by the public and civil societies, as well as issuing official statements,” he said.
The Langkawi Declaration on the Global Movement of Moderates last year had, among other things, recognised that moderation was an allencompassing approach not only in resolving differences and conflicts peacefully but also for ensuring sustainable and inclusive development and equitable growth, as well as promoting social harmony and mutual understanding within individual countries and the region.
The declaration also acknowledged that a commitment to democratic values, good governance, rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, adherence to social justice, among others, were vital to countering terrorism, violent extremism and radicalism.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim called on the United Nations (UN) to launch an investigation into the killings as it did on war criminals involved in the Bosnian war in the 1990s. He also urged the UN to investigate Nobel Peace Prize winner and Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to establish her role in the massacre of Rohingya.
“UN has to investigate what happened there like what was done in Bosnia which led to the conviction of Radovan Karadzic,” he said in reference to a prominent Bosnian Serb leader who was sentenced to 40 years’ jail by the UN tribunal for the slaughter of 8,000 Muslims.
Shahidan demanded for the investigation of Suu Kyi and her government to establish whether they were involved in ethnic cleansing and human rights violations.
“It also needs to be seen whether she is still worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.
“I can’t believe a person who supposedly fights for humanity can allow such violence to happen in her own country.
“If I was her I would throw it away. She needs to be given an award for killing or for the movement of killing and cruelty not peace,” he said on the sidelines at Dewan Negara.
Shahidan was responding to the Myanmar press’ criticism of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. It claimed the latter was trying to gain political mileage on the issue and distract the Malaysian public.
“The condemnation against Najib is not intelligent. They have to look at what they have done and they can’t run away from the fact that they have committed human rights violations,” he added.
Shahidan said this was obvious from the number of refugees fleeing the nation.
He said that while Malaysia was bound by the Asean Charter not to intervene in its fellow members’ internal affairs, the matter involved the violation of human rights.
He also called on the UN to review the issuance of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cards to ensure that those involved in such killings were not given refugee status.
He said there were about 140,000 Myanmar refugees with UNHCR cards in Malaysia and only about 42,000 were Rohingya.
“The rest are of different ethnicities. UNHCR and the government have to be careful and ensure that those involved in the ethnic cleansing are not allowed into Malaysia.”
Shahidan also added that those involved in the killings were “mad”.
The Independent, a British online newspaper, reported that violence had apparently been triggered by the killings of nine police officers at border posts in Rakhine state on Oct 9. The state is home to some 800,000 Rohingya.
Satellite images revealed that hundreds of buildings had been burnt to the ground in many villages.
Myanmar officials had blamed a militant Rohingya group for the attacks and security forces had sealed off access to Maungdaw district and launched a counter-insurgency operation. The scale of destruction is yet to be determined due to government-imposed media and foreign aid restrictions.