Desk Report,
Malaysia and its regional allies send peace mission to Myanmar
Malaysia and several regional countries will send a joint delegation to Myanmar to establish peace and provide humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim made the announcement at a joint press conference in Putrajaya on Tuesday with Professor Muhammad Yunus, the chief advisor to the interim government of Bangladesh, who is visiting Malaysia. The mission may be sent in the next few weeks.
Malaysia and its regional allies send peace mission to Myanmar
Bangladesh is sheltering more than one million Rohingya who have fled Rakhine State in the face of repression by the Myanmar army. Cox’s Bazar has become the world’s largest refugee camp as a shelter for such a large number of Rohingya. Anwar Ibrahim announced this initiative for the Rohingya at the start of a three-day visit to Malaysia by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the head of the interim government of Bangladesh.
The Prime Minister of the Southeast Asian country of Malaysia said that establishing peace in Myanmar is definitely a big priority. At the same time, urgent humanitarian assistance is also needed for the suffering refugees and earthquake-affected people.
Malaysia is currently the chairman of the ASEAN, an alliance of Southeast Asian countries. The country’s prime minister said the Malaysian foreign minister would coordinate the Myanmar mission with the foreign ministers of Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. The mission is expected to be sent in the next few weeks.
At a joint press conference, Anwar Ibrahim also said, “We are concerned about the burden placed on Bangladesh to support a large number of Rohingya refugees.”
The Rohingya live in the western state of Rakhine in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Most of them are Muslims. The United Nations says that about 150,000 members of this minority group have been forced to flee to Bangladesh in the past 18 months due to the growing conflict and planned violence against the Rohingya. During Professor Yunus’ visit, Bangladesh and Malaysia signed five memorandums of understanding in the fields of defense assistance, energy, strategic and international education and trade. In addition, three notes of exchange were signed between the two countries on higher education, training of diplomats and halal ecosystems.
Professor Muhammad Yunus arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Monday for a three-day state visit. The country’s Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail received the chief advisor at the airport. At that time, the chief advisor was given a red carpet welcome and a guard of honor.
