KUCHING: Malaysia will help resolve the Rohingya issue in Myanmar only if it is invited to do so.
Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Richard Riot Jaem said it had always been Malaysia’s policy not to interfere with another country’s problems even if that country was within Asean.
“If there is request from Myanmar, we’ll try to assist. So far, we have helped to give humanitarian aid comprising 500 tonnes of food, drinks and medical supply through a non-governmental organisation (NGO) recently,” he told reporters after officiating at the Asean Lecture Series here yesterday.
Riot said Malaysia was affected by the Rohingya issue with about 90,000 refugees in the country.
“The figure is alarming,” he pointed out, adding that it could take years to resolve the religious-rooted conflict between the Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine, Myanmar.
He cited the peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as an example.
He said the establishment of the Bangsamoro autonomous region in southern Philippines, which Malaysia facilitated, took nine years to resolve.
Earlier, Riot said many Malaysians still did not know about the existence of Asean and its roles in the region. This prompted the ministry to hold the Asean Lecture Series, which among others, aimed at highlighting Malaysia’s contribution to Asean since its establishment in 1967, and issues concerning the region.
He said Asean was a force to be reckoned with as the region had a combined population of about 600,000, thus becoming the socio-economic focus of developed nations like Europe and the United States.
In his speech, Riot said Malaysia would assume Asean chairmanship in 2015 which was an important year when the Asean Community would be established.
“Malaysia’s priority would be to create not only a ‘People-Oriented Asean’ but also a ‘People-Centred Asean’,” he said.
He said this was similar to the country’s aspiration of “1Malaysia: People First, Performance Now”.
During the lecture, research fellow on political and security affairs at the Asean Studies Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, Dr Termsak Chalermpalanupap, said Asean Day which falls on Aug 8 should be declared a public holiday in all member states.
He believed that such a move would help to create public awareness on Asean among the people in the region.
However, Chalermpalanupap noted that some member states already had public holidays in August and to have another, would be deemed too many in a month.
“Aug 9 is Singapore’s independence day, while Indonesia is on Aug 27 and Malaysia is on Aug 31. On Aug 12, it is Thailand’s Queen’s birthday, so there are too many public holidays in August,” he said.
Chalermpalanupap said Asean needed people’s support to continue to reinvent itself to remain dynamic and effective in promoting dialogue and cooperation, and in building its community.
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