Never take peace, stability for granted

AS Muslims in Malaysia celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri today, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, spare a thought for Muslims elsewhere who are not as fortunate as us.

The untold misery of Syrians, the Rohingya, the southern Thai or southern Filipino Muslims, the Afghans and the Iraqis, just to name a few, serves to remind us that we cannot take peace and stability for granted.

For the past 17 months, the world has seen how the Syrian uprising descended into a civil war that has killed more than 23,000 people and forced more than 2.5 million people to seek humanitarian aid.

In one incident on Friday, activists reported that Syrian forces shelled a group of people queuing outside a bakery in the Qadi Askar district of eastern Aleppo, the main battleground of the regime and armed rebels.

The AFP quoted the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as saying 10 people were killed in the district, and that at least 99 had died in violence across the country on Thursday, most of them civilians.

On Wednesday, around 40 people, including women and children, were killed in a massive airstrike on civilians in the rebel bastion of Aazaz, just north of Aleppo, according to rights groups and residents.

Obviously, keeping track of the death toll in Syria has been an uphill task. Neither President Bashar al-Assad's regime nor the Free Syrian Army has given independently verifiable data. The Observatory estimates the death toll at 23,000, while the United Nations puts it at 17,000.

Ironically, as the violence escalates in Syria and death toll mounts, the UN has decided to terminate its monitoring mission to Damascus by Aug 24, saying Syria's government and rebels have "chosen the path of war".

Two weeks ago, former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan resigned as mediator, disappointed with the failure of a four-month-old truce.

While world powers ponder over how to deal with the widening conflict, the fate of millions of Syrians, including women and children, Muslims and non-Muslims, remains in a limbo.

The plight of the Rohingya, Myanmar's minority Muslims, also deserves due global attention.

While Western nations ease economic sanctions on Myanmar over the recent spate of political reforms following years of military rule, the authorities there seem to be dragging their feet over alleged atrocities against the Rohingya.

In June, clashes between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya had killed at least 83 people and displaced tens of thousands of people.

Just last week, Myanmar's government announced the setting up of a commission to investigate the incident but dismissed calls from the UN and human right groups for independent investigators, saying the unrest is an internal affair.

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said last week Islamic countries should join hands to save the Rohingya.

He has also written a letter to Myanmar's democracy icon, Aung Sang Suu Kyi, seeking her intervention in the issue.

Suu Kyi has been silent on the issue, apparently in a bid to appease her supporters ahead of the 2015 general election, while Western nations, now warming up to the Myanmar regime, have tiptoed around the issue.

Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless, and they are viewed by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), at its landmark "Ramadan" summit in Mecca last week, decided to bring the Rohingya case to the UN General Assembly.

The summit of the 57-nation grouping, representing the world's 1.5 billion Muslims, described the Myanmar government's handling of the minority Muslims as a "crime against humanity".

There must be a strong political will among key Muslim nations, especially Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Iran and Indonesia, to push for progress in the Rohingya case.

The Rohingya have suffered far too long. An OIC fact-finding mission or humanitarian aid for the Rohingya is most welcome.

But their needs go beyond food and shelter. They need legitimacy and a place to call home.

Wishing all Muslim readers Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir Batin.

A Rohingya man pleads to be allowed into Bangladesh after fleeing the violence in Myanmar. Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless and they are viewed as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities. AP pic

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