1,000 ROHINGYAS STAGE PROTEST IN MALAYSIA

Kuala Lumpur, 26 Muharram 1435/ 30 November 2013 (MINA) – Over thousands Rohingya Muslims staged a boisterous protest in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

They condemned the Myanmar government for not acting against what they say is an ongoing assault against Islam by Buddhists in the country.

They were reacting to reports that Buddhist monks in Myanmar had carried anti-Islamic posters at a rally held earlier this month. Rohingya News Agency reported quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

Friday’s protest in Kuala Lumpur was backed by the youth wing of Malaysia’s Islamic opposition party, PAS.

Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid, president of Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organizations, said: “We will call for the ASEAN to take action. We will call the Malaysian government to re-examine diplomatic relations with Myanmar.We will call on Malaysia to re-examine its investment in Myanmar.”

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Protestors wanted to give the Myanmar ambassador a memorandum of protest, but embassy officials reportedly declined to meet representatives. The crowd dispersed within an hour, without incident.

The Muslim Rohingyas make up the bulk of the 80,000-strong Myanmar refugees in Malaysia. An estimated 30,000 Rohingyas live in Malaysia. The Rohingyas said the flare up of violence in Arakan has claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people and they want an end to the alleged atrocities. They want a UN peacekeeping force as well as a medical team to be sent there immediately.

Many fear that thousands of Rohingyas may be heading towards a crisis situation without food, shelter and medication. Many were anguished by what they described as international apathy towards the plight of the stateless Rohingyas. (T/P010/P04)

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MINA (Mi’raj News Agency)