KUALA LUMPUR: A non-governmental organisation (NGO) today urged Asean to step in to put a stop to the genocide of the Rohingya in Myanmar.
A Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) team, led by its vice presidents Datuk Masood Zainal Abidin and Syed Osman Syed Mansor, handed over a letter to a representative of Asean secretary-general Le Luong Minh at 2.30pm.
The team also personally delivered similar letters to Permanent Representative of Malaysia to Asean Datuk Sharifah Norhana Syed Mustaffa and Malaysian ambassador to Indonesia Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim.
Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali said the letter was submitted to Asean since the United Nations and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) had failed to take the necessary actions to stop the genocide, just as they had failed in dealing with issues relating to Palestine.
Perkasa, he said, had lost faith in the world bodies.
“We urge the Asean secretariat to convene an immediate summit conference of Asean Heads of State to specifically discuss the Rohingya issue. We think that Asean can put a stop to the genocide as Myanmar is also a member of the association.
“During the conference, other Asean heads of state can urge the Myanmar leader to stop the cruelty. If they (Myanmar) do not want to cooperate and the cruelty continues, then the best way is to remove Myanmar from being an Asean member,” he told reporters.
Ibrahim said Perkasa believed that the three Islamic Asean nations, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, could influence other countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos to put pressure on Myanmar authorities to stop the atrocities being committed in Rakhine state.
This, he said, could be followed by economic sanctions, including boycotting imports from and stopping exports to Myanmar as well as shutting down air travel to and from the country.
Ibrahim said copies of the letters had also been forwarded to Asean government representatives through their embassies here in Kuala Lumpur.