MP: Asean’s failure to help Rohingya ‘deeply
disappointing’
By Free Malaysia Today
December 21, 2016
DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago laments that Asean foreign
ministers caved in to Aung San Suu Kyi’s sweet talk.
KUALA LUMPUR: DAP MP Charles Santiago says it is “deeply
disappointing” that the Asean members failed to act decisively to address the
ongoing Rohingya crisis, despite urgings from Malaysia.
He said this following a meeting of Asean foreign ministers
in Yangon focused on the situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
“That Malaysia failed to convince other Asean members of the
urgent need to act is deeply disappointing. Through continued inaction, Asean
risks failing the people at its centre.
“This meeting should have been an opportunity to take
decisive action to protect vulnerable civilians and hold the Myanmar government
and military accountable.
“Unfortunately, though not unexpectedly, it seems it was
largely an act of political theatre,” said Santiago, who also serves as
chairperson of Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
“Sadly, Asean foreign ministers caved in to Aung San Suu
Kyi’s sweet talk and have seemingly put the Rohingya issue on the back burner.
“That’s bad news for the tens of thousands of Rohingya still
trapped without aid access in Rakhine State, and it’s bad news for the region,
which will ultimately pay the price for Myanmar’s inability or unwillingness to
properly address the situation.
“The bottom line is that evidence and scores of reports of
abuses has fallen on deaf ears.”
Santiago praised the comments delivered at the meeting by
Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, who highlighted alleged human rights
abuses and called on Myanmar and other regional governments to take stronger
steps to address the crisis.
However, he lamented Anifah’s failure to convince regional
counterparts of the need to take immediate action.
“It was encouraging to hear that Anifah highlighted alleged
abuses and raised the prospect of an Asean investigating team made up of
independent experts.
“Yet it appears this call too fell on deaf ears in Yangon.
It is unfortunate because such an inquiry, if truly independent, would have
contributed to revealing the truth and ensuring that abuses are not met with
impunity,” Santiago said.
During the meeting, Anifah expressed “grave concern” over
“reports from many sources alleging arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings,
including of children, rape by soldiers, burning of Rohingya villages as well
as destruction of homes and places of worship”.
Invoking the 2015 regional refugee crisis, Anifah also
declared that the situation clearly constituted a “regional concern” and called
for immediate humanitarian access to Rakhine State, as well as for Asean to
establish an independent group of experts to investigate the situation there.
Despite his urgings, however, the meeting ended without
clear commitments from the Myanmar government beyond a pledge to keep Asean
counterparts updated on developments in Rakhine State.
Asean foreign ministers, besides Anifah, largely shied away
from questioning the Myanmar government’s actions in the context of the crisis.
“Asean ministers gave Suu Kyi a pass and are effectively
allowing the Myanmar authorities to get away with murder in Rakhine State,”
Santiago said.
“Malaysia was right to raise the spectre of ethnic cleansing
and even genocide — acts in which Asean risks complicity if it continues to sit
on the sidelines.”
Santiago emphasised that the Malaysian government’s strong
public stance on the Rohingya situation in Myanmar did not absolve it of the
urgent responsibility to address the needs of the Rohingya refugees at home.
“At the meeting, Anifah mentioned the 56,000 Rohingya
refugees we have in Malaysia. If the government is serious about stepping up
and providing some real regional leadership on this issue, it needs to start at
home.
“That means providing Rohingya refugees in Malaysia with
access to legal registration, basic services, and job opportunities.
“Signing the 1951 Refugee Convention would also go a long
way to demonstrate a serious level of commitment,” Santiago said.