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| Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak at a rally to show solidarity with Rohingya (Photo: Sumisha Naidu) |
'Enough is enough' on Rohingya issue: Najib to Suu Kyi
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime
Minister Najib Razak had strong words for Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu
Kyi and her government in a scathing address at a rally in solidarity with the
ethnic Rohingya in Kuala Lumpur.
"We want to tell Aung San
Suu Kyi enough is enough!" he told the crowd of thousands on Sunday (Dec
4), in the wake of allegations that Myanmar's army is leading a brutal
crackdown on the Muslim minority Rohingya in Rakhine.
Mr Najib said he did not care
about the Myanmar government's statement that Malaysia should not interfere in
the country's internal affairs, citing the ASEAN principle of non-interference.
"Do they want me to close
my eyes? Want me to be mute?" he asked. "There is an article in the
ASEAN charter that says ASEAN must uphold human rights. Are they blind? Don't
just interpret things as you choose."
The prime minister said he had
sent Foreign Affairs Minister Anifah Aman to Nay Pyi Taw to meet Ms Suu Kyi,
only to be told she was only willing to meet to discuss bilateral affairs, but
not the Rohingya. "What's the point of a Nobel Peace Prize?" he said
to a riled-up crowd.
Mr Najib said he is going to
ask Indonesia to rally in solidarity with the Rohingya too, and wants more
Malaysians to come out in protest as well. "The world cannot just sit by
and watch genocide taking place."
More than 56,000 Rohingyas are
registered with the United Nations refugee agency in Malaysia.
The rally brought the prime
minister onto the same stage as the president of Islamist party, PAS - a party
the ruling party UMNO is trying to forge closer ties with.
Ms Suu Kyi has appealed to the
international community for understanding on the Rohingya issue, which she
called a highly sensitive and delicate one. "It doesn’t help if everybody
is just concentrating on the negative side of the situation," she told
Channel NewsAsia in an exclusive interview.
Source: http://bit.ly/2gnUa8G