ASEAN Members Urged to Cooperate in Resolving Rohingya Issue

BANGKOK, June 27(TNA) - Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) must cooperate with each other in resolving the Muslim Rohingya problem while Myanmar must take its role in solving the crisis, said a political science lecturer on Saturday. Professor Charan Maluleem, a Muslim academic at Bangkok’s Thammasat University, said during a speech entitled ‘Dark Side of Rohingya, People who Have No Way Out’ that the Rohingya problem began a long time ago when Myanmar and the Arabians settled in Rakhine State in the eighth and ninth century. Their settlement came at the same time when British troops waged war in then Burma. Professor Charan said that ASEAN members must cooperate with each other in resolving the Rohingya issue because the problem affects ASEAN members in large-scale and also human rights. It was a positive signal for the Thai government to host a meeting on abnormal migration on May 29 in which Myanmar officials also participated, probably due to pressure imposed by ASEAN members and international organisations, said the scholar. Most importantly, Myanmar, which is the origin country for Rohingya Muslims must step in to solve the problem, he noted. On Tuesday, national police chief Pol. Gen. Somyot Poompanmoung told a press conference that the police had submitted 19 cases containing charges to those accused of trafficking Rohingya migrants to the Office of the Attorney General. The case of this human trafficking charges began on May 1 when police found a camp on a mountain in the southern province of Songkhla which borders Malaysia. Police later issued arrest warrants for 89 people on charges of human trafficking. To date, 56 people out of the total were charged with trafficking 80 Rohingya migrants. The state-run Anti-Money Laundering Office has impounded 258 items of assets of those accused people. (TNA)