OIC urges Asean to take lead role in helping Rohingyas

KUALA LUMPUR: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is urging Asean to take a leading role to mobilise support to solve the humanitarian crisis involving the Rohingyas.
OIC special envoy to Myanmar Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said Asean must call for an urgent meeting to resolve the crisis and take a regional approach on the Rohingya issue.
"We can't afford to have anymore tragedies involving the boat people from Myanmar. Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand in particular must discuss how to take care of these refugees and not let them drift away at sea," said Syed Hamid today after officiating the International Bus, Truck and Components Expo in Seri Kembangan.
He criticised Asean for being too lenient in dealing with human rights situations and called for a dialogue between Asean members and Myanmar.
"Asean cannot sit idly about the human trafficking from Myanmar. Asean must take position on how to solve this humanitarian crisis collectively and engage with Myanmar.
"I hope the foreign ministers of Asean can quickly do something about this. We know the source of the problem is Myanmar but at the moment, there's no better way than for Asean to sit down together and engage with Myanmar government," said Syed Hamid, who is also former Malaysia's Foreign Minister.
He praised Malaysia for accepting responsibility of taking care of the Rohingyas for many years and stated that Malaysia as chairman of Asean could play an important role in managing the crisis but, "it should not be one country alone in South East Asia of addressing the crisis".