By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
A popular independent Malaysian Islamic preacher has slammed Malay Muslims for what he considers their failure to help boatloads of Rohingya stuck at sea in Southeast Asia's on-going humanitarian crisis.
Dr. Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin accused his countrymen of putting greed and avarice before duty on his Facebook page Saturday.
“Because of our greed, our fear that our prosperity will be shared by others, we cast them out to fight for their lives out at sea,” the Mufti of Perlis said.
Perlis is the smallest state in Malaysia. It lies at the northern part of the country's west coast, with Thailand's Satun and Songkhla Provinces on its northern border.
Since Thailand launched a crackdown on human trafficking in its southern region May 1, boatloads of Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants have been turning up on Malaysian and Indonesian shores.
All three countries have since announced plans to turn them back, unless they are unseaworthy and sinking. Thailand has since reneged, however, saying it may let smaller boats in.
On Saturday, a Malaysian lawmaker branded Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's statement regarding the refugees a "joke," highlighting the country's record in human trafficking.
Razak said Friday that “necessary actions” were being taken for the refugees, but it was unclear if these steps include allowing the boats to dock, which the goverment previously said it would not permit.
Last year, the U.S. State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report had downgraded Malaysia to Tier 3 status for not complying with the "minimum standards" to deal with human trafficking.
"As long as the Malaysian government refuses to have an honest examination of its policies towards refugees and migrants, our human trafficking record will continue to languish," Serdang MP Dr Ong Kian Ming said in a statement.
On his Facebook page, Zainul Abidin contrasted the treatment of Rohingya with the continued search for the pasengers of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
“We are still searching for the remains of those who are almost certainly dead on a plane that crashed into the sea, while those who are still alive we leave to die out at sea. Where is our humanity?!” the writer, lecturer and Islamic consultant stated.
Malaysian lawmaker Charles Santiago has said that the country’s chairmanship of ASEAN could be considered a failure if the prime minister did not reprimand Myanmar for causing the exodus of Rohingya from its borders.
Malaysia was instrumental in bringing Myanmar into the 10-member bloc.
"We need Najib, as the head of state, to reprimand Myanmar and hold its quasi-civilian government accountable for the targeted persecution and killings of the Rohingya," he said
On Saturday, Zainul Abidin underlined what he considered to be Malaysia's failure to criticise what he termed the "state-sanctioned" persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar by Buddhist “terrorists',” saying that Malaysia was now repeating its failure by silently standing by as the boat people suffer and die.
“When European countries that are not even Muslims try to save refugees in their waters, we who overdo it with a ‘salawat perdana’ (mass prayer) that cost hundred of thousands, are willing to watch people die out at sea because we fear our prosperity being shared by others,” he said.
The Malay Mail reported Saturday that the comment appeared to be a dig at a large-scale Islamic prayer and concert held at the historic square of Dataran Merdeka last New Year’s Eve.
During the evening, thousands of Muslims flooded the area to seek forgiveness and divine blessing in light of the many tragedies that befell Malaysia in 2014.
“We have been tested as of late, with the big floods. But beyond this test we see that Muslims and Malaysians unite to assist those in need," Indonesia-born preacher Habib Syech Abdul Qadir as-Seggaf, told a sea of songkoks, turbans and hijabs.
“Then we say ‘we Muslims are the best’?!..." wrote Zainul Abidin on Saturday. "It is feared this loss of humanity will draw the wrath of God in the seas and on the land. We seek Allah’s protection for all the rakyat [ordinary people] who are innocent."
Inter-governmental agency the International Organization for Migration has estimated that 8,000 migrants being smuggled from either western Myanmar or Bangladesh are currently on boats in the Andaman Sea and Malacca Straits.
The deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch has accused Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia of playing games with the boats and putting the lives of those on board at risk.
Phil Robertson urged the countries’ navies to “stop playing a three-way game of human ping pong,” as the world would judge how they treated “these most vulnerable men, women and children.”
