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RI defends approach to Rohingya problem
Hope for life: A Bangladeshi man helps a Rohingya Muslim refugee disembark from a boat on the Bangladeshi shoreline of the Naf River after crossing the border from Myanmar in Teknaf on Sept
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ope for life: A Bangladeshi man helps a Rohingya Muslim refugee disembark from a boat on the Bangladeshi shoreline of the Naf River after crossing the border from Myanmar in Teknaf on Sept. 30, 2017.(AFP/Fred Dufour)
With fresh pressure on Myanmar over the alleged genocide that had driven thousands of Rohingya Muslims out of the country, Indonesia urged the international community to stop “pointing fingers” at the Buddhist-majority country and build trust through dialogue instead.
Myanmar was faced last week with renewed pressure internationally over a 2017 military crackdown on the Rohingya, which United Nations investigators insisted was carried out with “genocidal intent”. More than 730,000 people have fled to Bangladesh to avoid persecution.
The small African nation of Gambia moved on Monday to hold Myanmar accountable for the refugee crisis, bringing the country to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted on Thursday a resolution on the human rights situation for Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar, filed by the United Arab Emirates and Finland on behalf of the OIC and the European Union. It was followed by an announcement that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had approved a prosecution request to investigate crimes against humanity, which was rejected by Myanmar.
In June, the OIC condemned the “inhumane” situation of the minority and urged Myanmar to put an end to the violence, reminding it of the responsibility to protect its citizens.
The moves were partly a result of efforts devised by the OIC contact group on Myanmar, which had focused on drafting strategies to deal with the Rohingya refugee crisis, said Kamapradipta Isnomo, the Foreign Ministry’s international organizations for developing countries director.
“There is a sense of solidarity with the Rohingya refugees to pressure Myanmar, but Indonesia was the only OIC member that took a different approach — we have to build trust and confidence in Myanmar so that they want to open up to us,” Kama said on Monday.
The world’s largest Muslim-majority country has refused to use a carrot-and-stick approach on its Southeast Asian neighbor, underscoring the complicated nature of conflict in Myanmar by choosing to label the plight of the Rohingya as part of a wider humanitarian crisis.
Myanmar’s permanent representative to the UN said the resolution “grossly mischaracterized” the complex issues in Rakhine state that involved cross-border migration, poverty, lack of rule of law and security, according to the UN website.
At the UNGA, Kama said Indonesia was actively involved in revising the draft UN resolution sponsored by the OIC and the EU to ensure the resulting document remained balanced and that it recognized Myanmar’s own efforts to address the issue, as well as that of ASEAN through its humanitarian response agency, the AHA Center.
The chairman of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, Marzuki Darusman, said Indonesia played a significant role in establishing a bridge between Myanmar, Southeast Asia and the international community so that everyone was able to get a full picture of the conflict. “As a nonpermanent member of both the UN Security Council and the UN Human Rights Council, while also being the most important member of ASEAN, Indonesia has the flexibility to gain information more holistically, something that other countries don’t have.”
Marzuki said a new factor that Indonesia must address was Vietnam’s return to the UN Security Council next year. “Indonesia should talk to Vietnam and reach a common understanding on the issue, so that Vietnam may persuade other CMLV [Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam] countries [on how] to communicate with the international community,” he said.
Speaking to journalists after a meeting with Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, Myanmar’s ambassador to Indonesia, Ei Ei Khin Aye, said her country was committed to ensuring security in the repatriation process but added that “prejudice would delay” the effort and make the situation more difficult for her government.
The repatriation, she said, would depend on understanding from both sides. She insisted it was still very difficult for her government to meet the Rohingya’s demands for citizenship.
— Kharishar Kahfi contributed to this story.
