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ICJ hearing opportunity for Myanmar to explain its side of Rohingya issue: Ministry

Indonesia has expressed support for State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi's decision to attend a hearing into allegations of genocide against her government at the United Nation’s top court in the Hague, the Netherlands, saying the hearing is an opportunity for the government of the Buddhist majority country to explain its considerations regarding the Rohingya issue

Apriza Pinandita (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, December 12, 2019

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ICJ hearing opportunity for Myanmar to explain its side of Rohingya issue: Ministry

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span>Indonesia has expressed support for State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi's decision to attend a hearing into allegations of genocide against her government at the United Nation’s top court in the Hague, the Netherlands, saying the hearing is an opportunity for the government of the Buddhist majority country to explain its considerations regarding the Rohingya issue.

Suu Kyi arrived at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday to defend her military against accusations of committing genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority. The case was brought forward by West African country the Gambia on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The move has proven popular in Myanmar, where many see Suu Kyi as a democracy icon and where reports of the atrocities against the Rohingya are often dismissed as exaggerated.

“Indonesia is not in a position to make comments [on the ongoing hearing], but what Suu Kyi is doing is good for [conveying] the Myanmar government’s standpoint,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah said Tuesday.

When asked what results Indonesia expected to see from the hearings, he said it was not in Indonesia’s capacity to have any expectations, adding that it would simply respect Suu Kyi’s decision to attend the hearing.

Suu Kyi told the court on Wednesday that the case brought against her government was "incomplete and misleading", Reuters reported. She acknowledged that disproportionate force may have been used at times by the military, but said the conflict in the western Rakhine state was "complex and not easy to fathom".

During the first hearing on Tuesday, the Gambia’s legal team laid out its arguments that the Myanmar military was responsible for “mass rapes, the burning alive of Muslim Rohingya families in their home and the killing with knives of dozens of children", according to Reuters.

On Thursday, both sides will be given 19 minutes each to respond to the testimony presented on Wednesday.

More than 730,000 Rohingya reportedly fled Myanmar after the military launched a crackdown in the country’s western Rakhine state in August 2017. Most now live in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, has consistently called on the international community to stop pointing fingers at the Buddhist-majority country and to build trust through dialogue instead.

Breaking from the majority of the OIC’s members, Indonesia has said it does not favor adopting a “reward and punishment” approach toward its Southeast Asian neighbor, highlighting the complicated nature of the conflict in Myanmar and choosing to view the plight of the Rohingya as part of a wider humanitarian crisis.

“Through our own approach, [Indonesia] is trying to be part of the solution, be it bilaterally or through ASEAN mechanisms,” Faizasyah said.

International relations expert Teuku Rezasyah, meanwhile, has said that the approach of ASEAN members to not comment publicly on the situation in Myanmar while offering support behind the scenes was conducive to addressing the issue.

“On one hand, they want to push Myanmar to move forward [toward becoming a country that upholds human rights]. But on the other hand, they are aware that it will take time."

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