Myanmar bans workers going to Malaysia as Rohingya crisis
grows
YANGON: Myanmar has stopped sending
workers to Muslim-majority Malaysia as relations sour over a bloody military
crackdown on the Buddhist country's Rohingya minority.
The move came after Malaysian
Prime Minister Najib Razak lashed out at Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu
Kyi for allowing "genocide", during a rally in Kuala Lumpur that drew
thousands of people.
The crowds were protesting
against a military crackdown in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine that has
pushed more than 20,000 Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh.
Survivors have told AFP
horrifying stories of gang rape, torture and murder at the hands of Myanmar
security forces, while dozens have died trying to cross the river that
separates the two countries.
Buddhist-majority Myanmar has
long discriminated against the stateless Rohingya and the recent crisis has
galvanised protests in Muslim countries around the region, including Malaysia.
"We want to tell Aung San
Suu Kyi, enough is enough... We must and we will defend Muslims and
Islam," Najib said at Sunday's 5,000-strong rally.
"The world cannot sit and
watch genocide taking place."
A Malaysian government minister
has also called for a review of Myanmar's membership of the regional ASEAN
bloc.
Myanmar officials have denied
the allegations of abuse and Suu Kyi has told the international community to
stop stoking the "fires of resentment".
Late Tuesday Myanmar's
immigration ministry said it had stopped issuing new licences for its nationals
to work in wealthier Malaysia, for years a top destination for migrant labour.
"Myanmar has temporarily
stopped sending workers to Malaysia from 6/12/2016 because of the current
situation in Malaysia," it said in a statement, without elaborating.
Myanmar has also summoned
Malaysia's ambassador to protest at Najib's accusations of ethnic cleansing.
"Such irresponsible
remarks could worsen the already deepening polarisation between the two
communities and violent extremism," Myanmar's foreign ministry said on
Wednesday.
Malaysia already hosts tens of
thousands of Myanmar workers, most of them in low-paid jobs in factories or the
food and hospitality industries.
According to Malaysia, some
56,000 Rohingya have arrived on its shores in recent years, many taking
perilous boat journeys to flee poverty and discrimination in Rakhine.
But on Tuesday former UN chief
Kofi Annan, who heads a commission on troubled Rakhine, told reporters he
thought the crisis would not split the region apart.
"I think it can be
contained. There is a possibility here to contain what is going on," he
told a news conference in Yangon at the end of a week-long visit.