The treatment of Rohingya in Buddhist-majority Myanmar is
one of the issues raised by Anwar Ibrahim in his interview
HONG KONG: Anwar Ibrahim, who’s in line to become
Malaysia’s next premier, blasted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s treatment of
the Rohingya and called for formal talks on China’s crackdown against its
Muslim minority.
“I was appalled by the attitude of Suu Kyi these days,”
Anwar said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Sophie Kamaruddin in
Hong Kong. “Buddhists, Muslims, Christians all supported her. Why must she
continue to be seen to be condoning crimes against the minority?”
The United Nations has said the treatment of Rohingya in
Buddhist-majority Myanmar may amount to genocide, a report that Suu Kyi’s
government has rejected. The crisis, which has seen more than 700,000 minority
Muslims in Myanmar flee to Bangladesh, didn’t even make it onto the agenda of
an Asian leaders meeting in Nepal last month.
Anwar, who has an agreement to take over from Prime
Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in a year or two, also spoke out about China’s
treatment of Turkic-speaking Uighurs. Multiple accounts have emerged of
secretive “re-education camps” that have detained tens of thousands to “upwards
of 1 million” Uighurs, according to a UN committee’s assessment.
While Malaysia’s government raised the Uighur issue with
China, officials in Beijing view it as an “internal issue”, Anwar said. “This
has gone out into the mainstream media as an issue, and I believe we should use
a proper forum to start highlighting these issues and seek this understanding
from the Chinese authorities.”
Anwar’s comments amount to some of the strongest yet from
a senior political leader in Asia condemning abuses of Muslim minorities.
Regarding China, in particular, governments in Muslim-majority countries from
Saudi Arabia to Indonesia have been silent even as calls grow in the US and
Europe for China to stop the alleged human-rights abuses.
China officially denies problems in Xinjiang, a vast
region the size of Alaska bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan that’s home to
some 10 million Uighurs. During a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Chinese Foreign
Minister Wang Yi reiterated support for Malaysia’s new government while adding
that China won’t interfere in other countries’ internal affairs. That echoes
its warning against US lawmakers who urged sanctions against senior Chinese
officials.
Scared
Asked why Muslim governments have largely been quiet on
the Uighurs, Anwar said, “They’re scared. Nobody wants to say anything.”
China is the largest trading partner of Malaysia and many
other countries around the world. Mahathir has taken an assertive stance toward
Beijing, warning against “a new version of colonialism” while cancelling
billion-dollar projects backed by Chinese state companies.
Suu Kyi has faced widespread criticism for failing to
protect press freedom or doing more to protect hundreds of thousands of
minority Muslims. Her government has rejected the UN report calling for a
genocide investigation, saying it undermined official efforts to bring peace
and national reconciliation.
The UN report “will only serve to create further
divisions and mistrust in Rakhine State and the entire country,” Myanmar’s
foreign ministry said in a statement.
Anwar’s criticism of Suu Kyi is more personal. Both were
among Asia’s most famous political prisoners, locked up repeatedly by
oppressive regimes. Anwar was only released from jail in May after his
coalition ended the six-decade rule of Barisan Nasional led by former Prime Minister
Najib Razak.
Disgust
In 2012, Anwar’s wife and current Deputy Prime Minister
Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail sent Suu Kyi a personal letter congratulating her for
an election win and asking her to use her power to help the Rohingya.
“Your voice carries much weight and I beseech you to use
that voice to care for the oppressed,” Wan Azizah wrote, adding, “I look
forward to your rise in Myanmar, so that the fate of all your citizens
including the Rohingya, improve.”
On Wednesday in Hong Kong, Anwar said “disgust” might be
more appropriate for how he feels about Suu Kyi. He said she wasn’t even
prepared to say “stop the killings.”
“Aung San Suu Kyi is a real, real disappointment,” he
said.
Zaw Htay, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s government, couldn’t
immediately be contacted for a response. The Prime Minister’s Office in
Malaysia couldn’t immediately comment.
Source: Bloomberg
Source: Bloomberg