Protests in Asian Capitals over Violence against Rohingya
SPOTLIGHT, 28 Nov 2016
Channel News Asia – TRANSCEND Media Service
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruzoj1s7RuU
Angry protesters took to the streets in cities from Jakarta to Dhaka on Friday (Nov 25, 2016) to denounce Myanmar over allegations of indiscriminate killing and rape in a military crackdown on the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority.
Around 5,000 Bangladeshi Muslims demonstrated in the capital Dhaka after Friday prayers, with hundreds more protesting in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bangkok to accuse Myanmar of ethnic cleansing and genocide in its northern Rakhine state.
Escalating violence has reportedly killed at least 86 people and displaced some 30,000.
Myanmar soldiers have also been accused of sexually assaulting dozens of women from the minority group.
Malaysia’s Cabinet also issued a statement condemning the violence, an unusually strong criticism against a fellow member of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“Malaysia… calls on the government of Myanmar to take all necessary actions to address the alleged ethnic cleansing,” the statement said.
It said the Myanmar ambassador would be summoned over the crisis and that Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman would meet with de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other top Myanmar officials “at the earliest possible date.”
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian NGOs joined hundreds of Rohingya Muslims in staging the protests against the violence in Rakhine.
Emotional plea from rohingya Muslim leader Rafi Ismail in Malaysia . He fears that his 17 family members have been massacred in Rakhine. pic.twitter.com/ht8nxbhQgU
— Melissa Goh (@MelGohCNA) November 25, 2016
‘IS IT BECAUSE THEY ARE MUSLIMS?’
Meanwhile, around 300 demonstrators in Jakarta gathered in front of the Myanmar embassy calling for an end to the violence. The protesters demanded that Myanmar stop the attacks on the Rohingya, and urged the Indonesian government and the United Nations to condemn the acts and take stern action.
Two hours after the protest began, police helped to facilitate a meeting between demonstrators and members of the embassy. Three people representing the protesters spoke with embassy officials, and urged them to take action.
“We conveyed to them that what is happening to the Rohingya in Myanmar is a serious crime against human rights,” said Iskandarsyah Siregar, spokesperson of the Alliance for the Unity of Muslims who was one of the people that met with officials at the embassy.
“It is genocide, and what is clear is that we condemn it. We demanded that the government of Myanmar take clear action towards what their government there (in Myanmar) is doing.”
Iskandarsyah said that the group had asked the embassy to provide a response to their assertions by Monday, threatening to protest again if they did not.
“We asked them, their stance towards the Rohingya, is it because they are Muslims? If so, that means that the government of Myanmar is clearly hostile to Muslims. And we in Indonesia, as the biggest Muslim population, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, of course it makes us one of their enemies,” he told Channel NewsAsia.
Indonesian authorities deployed around 400 police officers to secure the protest area. Thousands of other security personnel were on stand-by in the vicinity, ready for deployment if the situation escalated.
After meeting with embassy officials, protesters said that they would be approaching the United Nations to demand action.
Also among the protesters was Muslim community leader Rafi Ismail who voiced his fears to reporters that 17 of his family members were massacred in Rakhine.
Demonstrators in #Jakarta protest violence against Rohingya in Rakhine in front of the #Myanmar Embassy pic.twitter.com/0Edx8mwOMZ
— Chandni Vatvani (@ChandniCNA) November 25, 2016
Over in Bangkok, representatives of the protesters from over 20 Muslim groups handed a letter to a Myanmar embassy official, also calling for an end to the violence.
Protesters in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok. (Photo: Twitter / @PanuCNA)
This was the group statement in full in English pic.twitter.com/IhSqljqL8R
— Panu Wongcha-um (@PanuCNA) November 25, 2016
‘DISTORTED INFORMATION’ AND ‘DISAPPOINTING’
The director general of Myanmar’s foreign ministry said on Friday that the protests in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia were based on “distorted information” and were “disappointing”.
He told Channel NewsAsia that the protests did not “help” the situation, and that Myanmar would be watching the demonstrations closely. He added that Myanmar would respond to the protests only if it was necessary to do so.
The bloodshed is the most serious since hundreds were killed in communal clashes in Rakhine in 2012.
The conflict in Myanmar’s northwestern state of Rakhine has sent hundreds of Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh and poses a serious challenge to Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and the new Myanmar administration that swept to power last year on promises of national reconciliation.
– Agencies/mn/nc
Go to Original – channelnewsasia.com
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