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Khairy Jamaluddin has lobbied for Harimau Malaysia to
boycott this year’s Asean Football Federation’s (AFF) Suzuki Cup due to
Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya Muslims. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa –
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KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 ― Youth and Sports Minister Khairy
Jamaluddin confirmed he has lobbied for Malaysian football team to boycott this
year’s Asean Football Federation’s (AFF) Suzuki Cup due to co-host Myanmar’s
treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Khairy said he has brought up the issue in the Cabinet
meeting last week, and will continue doing so in the same meeting this week.
“I raised this issue in Cabinet last week. Will do so again
this week and stand guided by decision,” Khairy said on his Twitter account
today.
Khairy’s remark came after Perlis mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri
Zainul Abidin became the latest to urge the boycott by the Harimau Malaysia
team, four days after the regional tournament started on Saturday.
Malaysia won its first game against Cambodia 3-2 on Sunday,
and currently leads Group B in the Cup that also includes Vietnam and host
Myanmar.
Matches involving Group A are held in the Philippines
instead, with the co-host facing Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia.
“What is the meaning of sports without humanity? More than
that, it is an extreme cruelty against one of mankind’s ethnic group and they
are Muslims.
“We really hope for the government’s strictness in this
matter,” Asri said on his official Facebook page last night.
Asri said the boycott is needed to protest the purported
cruelty and tyranny of the Myanmar government against the Rohingyas, including
the murder of children, rape, burning them alive and other alleged crimes
against humanity.
Violence has recently escalated in the Rakhine state, with
Myanmar’s six-month-old government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu
Kyi blaming insurgency by Islamist militants for military attacks which has
killed at least 26 people.
The 1.1 million Rohingya living in Rakhine state face
discrimination, severe restrictions on their movements and access to services,
especially since inter-communal violence in 2012 that displaced 125,000 people.
The Rohingya are not among the 135 ethnic groups officially
recognised in Myanmar, where many in the Buddhist majority regard them as
illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.