Turn up the pressure on Myanmar
With the new humanitarian crisis unfolding in Myanmar, the global community must take a united stand to end the brutality of military troops in Rakhine state, home to one million Rohingya people.
Since October more than 130 Rohingya have been killed and 30,000 displaced. Satellite images show hundreds of houses in their villages have been burned down.
Rohingya who escaped over the border into Bangladesh said government troops were killing people, including children, raping women and burning and looting houses.
Aid workers have been forbidden access to the conflict areas, meaning that humanitarian assistance is lacking.
According to the UN more than 120,000 Rohingya fled their homes in the bloody Rakhine riots of 2012, many braving a treacherous sea journey to Malaysia.
The silence of Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the face of this latest humanitarian crisis is baffling. The failure of the rights icon and Nobel Peace laureate to protect the Rohingya against military violence can be seen as lending legitimacy to ethnic cleansing.
The international community must now apply pressure on Myanmar’s government, with economic sanctions if necessary, to ensure that much-needed aid reaches both the Rohingya remaining in Rakhine and those who are now refugees.
Lee Lam Thye
The Star/ANN
