ASEAN Should Play Active Role In Solving Rohingya Crisis: Observer

JAKARTA, Sept 5 (Antara) - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should play an active role in solving the ongoing crisis in Rakhine State, Myanmar, according to Yon Machmudi, Islamic political observer from the University of Indonesia (UI). The prolonged violence and ethnic discrimination in Rakhine had been systematic and rooted, he said here, Tuesday. The atrocities in Rakhine has involved the state, in this case the military, and has been supported by hard-line Buddhist group led by Monk Wiratu, he said. The problem has become more complicated as the grassroots also participate in expelling Rohingya minority, he said. The Myanmar government has refused to recognize Muslim Rohingas as its citizens, and therefore its policy does not support integration of Rohingya ethnic in the Buddhist-majority nation. Myanmar tends to use homogenic approach that gives privileges and power only to one certain ethnic, he said. Therefore, they tend to commit an ethnic cleansing to Rohingyas. "Structurally, the state has committed genocide, displacement, and assimilation by force, to get rid of the identity of the unwanted ethnic," he said. Indonesia, as the largest nation in Southeast Asia, should prevent the displacement and the ethnic cleansing in Rakhine, home to around one million Rohingyas. ASEAN should pressure Myanmar to stop its discriminating policies because it is against the characters of Southeast Asian countries, he said. The member countries of ASEAN should follow certain platforms, he added. "If they don't follow, ASEAN should consider an isolation to be imposed on Myanmar," he said. To show that the Myanmar government respects its minority's rights, the country should carry out a political accommodation approach, instead of ethnic cleansing, he remarked. Some 400 people have been killed and nearly 90,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since violence erupted in Myanmar in August.