Myanmar: Rohingya comments show Mahathir 'out of touch'

By David Williams

YANGON

Myanmar has slammed former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad for suggesting that the country should be kicked out of the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN for its treatment of Muslim Rohingya, calling him out of touch.

The Myanmar Times reported Tuesday that Deputy Foreign Minister U Thant Kyaw had said that the 89-year-old Mohamad’s views might be down to his age. 

He underlined that he considered the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as recognising Myanmar as a member that brings benefits to all in the region.

On June 12, Mohamad told an international conference on Rohingya - Plight of the Rohingya, Part II Crime Against Humanity - in Kuala Lumpur that Myanmar should be charged under international law and stripped of its membership to the ASEAN for permitting "genocide" against its Muslim population.

"I was instrumental in persuading other ASEAN countries to accept Myanmar as a member, despite all the ill treatment against Aung San Su Kyi,” he said, referring to Myanmar’s renowned opposition leader.

“But now they [Myanmar] is behaving differently,” Mohamad – who served as premier and Barisan Nasional chairman for 23 years until 2003 – added.

"I even wrote a letter to Su Kyi on the plight of the Rohingya and asked her to step in to resolve the matter. But there was no response."

The director of the Myanmar Government's ASEAN Affairs Department told The Times that he was surprised by Mohamed’s comments 

U Hau Khan Sum said that the former premier understood the importance of unity in ASEAN, and how the regional grouping was moving forward to a peaceful and prosperous community.

“I don’t understand why he spoke like that because Myanmar has been cooperating with all member countries for resolving those problems right now and Myanmar has already stated that no country should be singled out through finger-pointing,” he added.

“As you know, ASEAN does not make decisions without consensus. Therefore, it is impossible to expel Myanmar from ASEAN."

Since 2012, Rohingya -- who the United Nations consider to be the world’s most persecuted ethnic minority -- have been fleeing Myanmar in boats, in fear of violence that some human rights groups consider to be state-sponsored.

The country does not recognize the Rohingya, preferring to refer to them as Bengali, which suggests they are from neighboring Bangladesh.

Since Thailand launched a crackdown May 1 following the discovery of dozens of bodies at human trafficking camps near its southern border with Malaysia, thousands of migrants have been stranded in the region’s waters. On June 9, Malaysian police said they had also recovered the remains of 106 suspected victims in the border town of Padang Besar.

Mohamad said that because of Myanmar’s lack of a response to international calls to address the crisis, the treatment of the Rohingya had turned from a domestic issue to an international one.

"I'm a firm believer that every country has internal affairs and others should limit interference. But this is way beyond an internal affair,” he added. “They are killing people.”

"What Myanmar has done and has been doing is simple genocide," he said.

“We are here talking about what has been done. I think we should move from there and start talking about what we are going to do with Myanmar as the matter continues.”