DHAKA/JAKARTA: Muslim anger is growing in Asia as there seems no letup in violence against Myanmar鈥檚 Rohingya Muslim refugees.
Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is a 鈥減artner in crime鈥� with the army against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, Salah Abdulshkoor Alarakani, director of the Rohingya Media Center, told Arab News on Sunday.
鈥淪he has put her vested interests above the interests of humanity. A Nobel Peace Prize winner is watching massacres and atrocities against Rohingya Muslims, and she is silent,鈥� he said, adding that 鈥渉undreds of thousands鈥� have fled.
鈥淭he campaign led by the Myanmar army is horrific, and the volume of displacement is beyond imagination,鈥� Alarakani said.
鈥淥ur message to the world is that this peaceful minority is being annihilated. There鈥檚 genocide going on against the Rohingya. The UN hasn鈥檛 been as effective as we鈥檇 hoped.鈥�
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier accused Myanmar of 鈥済enocide鈥� against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
鈥淭here is a genocide there,鈥� Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul. 鈥淭hose who close their eyes to this genocide perpetuated under the cover of democracy are its collaborators.鈥�
On Saturday, up to 100 people under the banner of the Society of Professionals for Rohingya Humanity staged a rally in front of Myanmar鈥檚 Embassy in Jakarta, urging member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to end the 鈥済enocide鈥� of the Rohingya ethnic group.
They demanded Suu Kyi put more effort into ending the violence.
Otherwise she 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, and we demand that it be revoked,鈥� Said Reza, a spokesman for a communication forum for mosque youth groups in Indonesia, told Arab News at the rally.
AFP reported that a petrol bomb was thrown at the embassy. No one was injured in the incident.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has sent his foreign minister to Myanmar to urge its government to halt violence, he said. 鈥淓arlier this afternoon, the foreign minister has departed to Myanmar to ask the Myanmar government to stop and prevent violence, to provide protection to all citizens, including Muslims in Myanmar, and to give access to humanitarian aid,鈥� Widodo said.
Meanwhile, a few meters from the rally, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Vice Foreign Minister A.M. Fachir met with representatives of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Muhammadiyah, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the Islamic Students Alumni Association and the Islamic Students Association.
Muhyiddin Junaidi, head of the MUI鈥檚 international relations department, said they conveyed to Marsudi and Fachir the concerns of the Indonesian people over the Rohingya issue, and urged the government to take firmer action against Myanmar.
Muhammadiyah, Indonesia鈥檚 second-largest Muslim organization, on Thursday, demanded that the government reconsider its silent diplomacy with Myanmar because it had not ended Rohingya suffering.
Recounting the horror of Myanmar Army鈥檚 attack, Abdur Rahman, a 46-year-old Rohingya who fled Chikon Jhuria village in Rakhine to Bangladesh, said: 鈥淚 can鈥檛 believe I鈥檓 still alive.鈥�
鈥淭he army suddenly attacked our village at around 9 a.m. The whole village was burned down. Me, my wife and our 4-year-old boy took shelter in the adjacent jungle. My mother and two uncles were shot dead by the army.鈥�
Three boats carrying the refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar capsized in Bangladesh and 26 bodies of women and children have been recovered, officials said. Bangladesh border guard commander Lt. Col. S.M. Ariful Islam said at least three boats carrying an unknown number of Rohingya sank in the Naf River at Teknaf in Cox鈥檚 Bazar on Wednesday.