House speaker condemns killings of muslim Rohingya

july 24 2012



Indonesian House Speaker Marzuki Alie (FOTO ANTARA

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian House Speaker Marzuki Alie condemned the killings of Muslim Rohingya ethnic group members in Myanmar and urged countries to take a stance against that country`s military junta responsible for the incident.

"The systemic killings of the Rohingya by Myanmar`s military junta is a very concerning humanitarian tragedy that can be categorized as a serious human rights violation and a crime against humanity and specifically leads to a genocide," Marzuki Alie said.   a press conference here on Tuesday.

In view of that he said Indonesia as a country that honors human rights and an ASEAN chairman must be pro-active and give a strong reprimand to Myanmar and urge that country to respect human rights and settle the conflict by giving the Rohingya right to live and citizenship like that for other ethnic groups.

"The UN must also be active in responding to the Rohingya case in humanitarian as well as political terms. With regard to humanitarian problems anticipation must be made to deal with refugee problem," he said.

He said the UN must urge Myanmar to respect human rights as killings or ousting of the Rohingya from country is uncivilized.

"This is also a serious problem that the Organization of Islamic Conference must respond. There must be concrete steps to protect the Rohingya so that they would not become a target of the ethnic majority and the military junta," he said.

Marzuki said the OIC must urge the UN to give a strong sanction to Myanmar. "The Myanmarese leader could be taken to the International Criminal Court on a charge of committing systematic genocide on the Rohingya," he said.

The Rohingya case, he said, is also a test for Muslims now conducting fasting.

"Let us pray and extend our help to our Rohingya Muslim brothers who are suffering a test so that they remain strong," he said.

Regarding ASEAN, Marzuki Alie said Myanmar must be reminded of its commitment to democracy not only in procedural terms by allowing opposition figure Aung San Su Kyi to follow the general elections but also in substantial terms especially with regard to the Rohingya`s right to live.

He said the House of Representatives especially the Commission I must pro-actively respond the issue and urge the Indonesian government to play its strategic role in ASEAN as the Rohingya problem has already become an ASEAN and international issue. (*)

Editor: Heru