Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) must take tough measures to put pressure on Myanmar to end atrocities against the Rohingya people.
"We can appeal to the government of Myanmar, but if there is no response and the atrocities continue, ASEAN must support international moves to stop this abuse of authority and injustice in Myanmar," Mahathir said in an interview with The Nation, a national daily of Thailand, over the weekend, reports UNB.
About 800,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar's strife-torn Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August last year, when militant attacks on security outposts prompted a heavy-handed "clearance operation" by the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) that claimed thousands of lives.
Muslim residents of Rakhine faced arson, torture, gang rape and murder and many were forced to flee their homes. The United Nations and the United States dubbed the onslaught by the Tatmadaw "genocide".
The UN called for Myanmar's generals to face the International Criminal Court or an international tribunal on the charge.
"Asean has to learn how to bring pressure on governments that are not treating their own people with fairness and justice," he said.
"If Asean just allows these people to be massacred, it doesn't seem we are acting responsibly."
While the government in Nay Pyi Taw set up and sponsored several committees to address the crisis in Rakhine, Myanmar's de facto leader Aung Suu Kyi was criticised for delaying action and doing little to tackle the problem at its roots.
Mahathir said he and other foreign leaders has urged Suu Kyi to help the Rohingya, just as other nations rallied to protect her when she was a victim of injustice under Myanmar's former military regime from 1989-2010.
"Aung San Suu Kyi once fought against the military, but now she is a member of the government and is not able to have any influence over the military," Mahathir said.
"She should not associate herself with the military. They were unjust to her and now they are unjust to the Rohingya."
Thousands of Rohingya have refused plans set out by Myanmar and Bangladesh to repatriate them, fearing for their safety should they return.
Predominantly Buddhist Myanmar does not seem to want them back, The Nation quoted Mahathir as saying.
"Their fear of more violence is such that they would risk a dangerous journey across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia, where thousands have sought asylum in mainly Muslim Indonesia and Malaysia, he said.
Mahathir said Malaysia wanted to send them back to Myanmar, but they do not want to go back. "They might stay longer - they won't become Malaysian citizens, but they will be [accepted as] refugees."
Visiting Thailand since Saturday, Mahathir was conferred a prestigious Thai honorary doctorate by Rangsit University in recognition of his statesmanship.
He told The Nation that Malaysia's newly appointed peace facilitator Abdul Rahim Noor, a former police chief who is familiar with problems in the southern border area with Thailand, would help install peace in the predominantly Muslim region.
Thailand, which will chair ASEAN next year, should offer more autonomy to south to undermine independence support, said the Malaysian Prime Minister.
