ALOR STAR: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should consider making Rakhine State a security region in order to slam the brakes on the current atrocities against the Rohingya community in Myanmar.
Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) Political and International Studies senior lecturer Md Shukri Shuib said it is high time that the UNSC intervene in the latest crisis, which had claimed hundreds of lives while forcing thousands others to flee the country.
Shukri said, by making Rakhine a security region directly under the UNSC or the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the international bodies could ensure peace in the area.
He added that the UNSC’s silence on the issue has resulted in more oppression on the minority ethnic group.
Shukri also criticised Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to live up to her reputation as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate winner by not speaking up to halt the violence.
“Asean leaders must put pressure on Myanmar to stop the atrocities and at the same time, UNSC should act swiftly by deploying their peacekeepers to Rakhine,” he said.
Shukri said the Rohingya’s situation is much worse than that of the minority Muslim people in Mindanao (the Philippines) or even in southern Thailand.
He also questioned the “fight against terrorists” reason given by the Myanmar government against the Rohingya, saying that they (the Rohingya) do not have a separatist group equipped with army logistics to trigger any insurgence movements.
He said the oppression against the Rohingya community is the worst compared to the minority Muslim community in other countries after the Myanmar government revoked the Rohingya of their citizenship in the 1980s.
Commenting on Sudanese government’s willingness to open its doors to the Rohingya, Shukri commended the noble gesture but stressed that it will not provide an amicable long term solution.
“This will grant the Myanmar government a reason to continue flushing out the Rohingya community," he said.
“The Rohingya are Myanmar citizens, so they should be granted similar rights enjoyed by the other ethnic groups," he said.