November 12, 2012
The suffering of the Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine state is
putting pressure on ASEAN to intervene. Coming just before their 21st
Summit, the wisdom and stewardship of ASEAN leaders will be tested once
again.
By Yang Razali Kassim
THE PLIGHT of the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar – whom some label as
victims of “ethnic persecution” – is threatening to blow up in the face
of ASEAN, just weeks before the regional grouping convenes its 21th
summit this month in Cambodia. To help defuse the humanitarian fallout
from the Rohingya crisis, ASEAN has offered to work closely with the
Myanmar government and the United Nations in the same way this
tripartite arrangement effectively provided relief to the victims of
Cyclone Nargis in 2008.
But Myanmar has rejected the offer on the ground that the conflict is
an internal affair, according to Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan. He
cautioned that the atrocities, if not ended, could radicalise the
Rohingya Muslims and destabilise Southeast Asia.
ASEAN Reactions
Dr Surin’s warning bell is timely. There are signs of growing
agitation, especially within the Muslim communities of Southeast Asia,
at the seeming lack of peace efforts on the part of the Myanmar
government and the international community. There have been protests in
Jakarta outside the Myanmar embassy and calls by NGOs in the region for
ASEAN to address the violation of human rights of the stateless
Rohingya. The Myanmar government does not recognise the Rohingya as
citizens.
While Myanmar’s rejection of external assistance is not surprising,
ASEAN should sustain its persuasive approach to contain and defuse the
crisis so that it does not spill beyond the shores of Myanmar. The
Rohingya issue will complicate efforts by ASEAN to preserve peace and
stability in the region. “If the international community, including
ASEAN, is not able to relieve the pressure and pain, (the Rohingya)
could become radicalised and the entire region could be destabilised,”
said Dr Pitsuwan.
ASEAN has been exercised by the violence since June between Buddhists
and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state where many Rohingya have died and
at least 100,000 of them displaced. There has been long-standing
animosity between the Buddhists and Rohingya and thousands of Rohingya
have fled Myanmar over the years, with many of them seeking shelter in
neighbouring Bangladesh and Malaysia.
In the face of the growing concern in the region ASEAN foreign
ministers issued a four-point statement on 17 August 2012. They said
they were following closely developments since the incidents on 28 May
and 3 June and were ready to lend humanitarian assistance “upon the
request of the Government of Myanmar”. A week earlier, Dr Surin
disclosed he had proposed that ASEAN foreign ministers once again offer
humanitarian assistance as had been done in the aftermath of Cyclone
Nargis which left 138,000 people dead or missing. Individual ASEAN
states were also offering assistance separately to the Rohingya.
Just before the ASEAN statement, Indonesian foreign minister Marty
Natalegawa raised the issue at an emergency meeting of the Organisation
of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca on 14-15 August which declared the
violence on the Rohingya as “crimes against humanity”. “The Myanmar
government’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims is not in line with its
recent efforts towards democracy. Any act of discrimination on the basis
of religion or ethnicity is unacceptable,” Dr Marty was quoted by
Antara as saying.
The OIC subsequently announced that it was given the greenlight by
Myanmar to provide humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya. The Myanmar
government, however, later reversed the decision following protests by
Buddhist monks and laymen. Aung San Suu Kyi has taken a neutral stance
despite pleas from the European Union.
Implications for ASEAN
The unexpected outbreak of the ethnic crisis in Rakhine state is an
unwelcome strain on ASEAN which is still preoccupied with closing its
ranks over internal divisions sparked by Cambodia’s controversial
handling of the South China Sea disputes in July. How Myanmar addresses
the Rohingya issue and the growing international concerns will impact on
confidence in its chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014.
“Myanmar becoming the chair of ASEAN will be the focus of attention
(on) how it is handling such an issue,” Dr Surin said. “ASEAN cannot be
perceived to be standing by without taking any action on such a big
scale of humanitarian difficulty,” he added. However, Thailand, Cambodia
and Vietnam are likely to adopt a softer approach towards Myanmar on
this issue as they are wary of international involvement in issues
affecting their handling of their own Muslim minorities and are
sympathetic to the concerns of their domestic Buddhist majorities.
Should Myanmar clash with other ASEAN members on the Rohingya issue,
the current cracks within ASEAN caused by the South China Sea issue
could worsen and complicate internal fault lines, which ASEAN can ill
afford. Likewise Myanmar cannot ignore the growing concerns of the
regional and international community over the plight of the Rohingya.
Yang Razali Kassim is Senior Fellow with the S.
Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological
University and the school’s Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS)
Studies.c
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