This is a comment on an article titled "SBY urged to ask Myanmar to speed up democratization" (The Jakarta Post, March 16).

We do appreciate the Indonesian government's humane gesture toward our Rohingya refugees there and we hope Indonesia will maintain a continuous pressure on the Myanmar junta to release all political prisoners, prisoners jailed for various unfounded and unfair crimes.

Indonesia must stand above the other authoritarian regimes in ASEAN and push for ASEAN to uphold internationally recognized standards of human rights, civil rights and the rights of all minorities in their respective countries, as the biggest democracy in Southeast Asia and the country with the largest Islamic population in the world.

Insyaallah (God willing), Indonesia will become the most respected and influential democratic country, not only among Islamic countries, but in the whole world. It will be the responsibility of all Indonesian civil society organizations (think tanks, NGOs, other Islamic organizations, Muslims and the people of Indonesia) to put constant pressure on their leadership and lobby their leaders to be frank and open with a regime like Myanmar's illegal, brutal and racist military junta, to get them to respect the human rights of its own people and others.

We would like to convey our heartfelt appreciation to all Indonesians, organizations, civil society groups and governments officials for taking care of our Rohingya refugees there. We hope and believe that it will lead to the eventual resolution of the Rohingya Muslim minority people of Arakan issue.

Imum Ahmed

Riyadh

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