Malaysia’s Anwar Voices Concern About Myanmar Refugee Crisis – The Diplomat

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim mentioned yesterday that greater than 200,000 refugees from Myanmar have now sought asylum in his nation, as he known as for contemporary motion to push the nation’s ruling navy clique to implement an Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) peace plan.

Anwar made the feedback whereas on a state go to to the Philippines, throughout which he and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed a variety of bilateral agreements and mentioned a number of regional and worldwide problems with be aware, together with the continuing disputes within the South China Sea.

The Myanmar disaster was reportedly excessive on the agenda. Throughout a joint press convention following his assembly with Marcos, Anwar mentioned that he expressed his “concern” in regards to the “contentious, unresolved Myanmar situation which is affecting Malaysia adversely because of the large variety of refugees exceeding 200,000 individuals now in Malaysia,” Anwar mentioned in a press convention following his assembly with Marcos.

Lately, Malaysia has been one of many main locations for these fleeing Myanmar, notably Rohingya Muslims who’ve undertaken extremely harmful ocean voyages from the coasts of Myanmar and Bangladesh. The arrivals have continued for the reason that navy’s disastrous seizure of energy in February 2021, which has sparked a nationwide battle that reveals no indicators of abating.

Based on the United Nations refugee company, there have been round 183,790 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with the company in Malaysia as of the top of January, greater than 158,000 of which had been from Myanmar. Of those, 106,500 had been Rohingyas, 23,450 had been Chins, and 28,920 belonged to different ethnic minority teams “from conflict-affected areas or fleeing persecution in Myanmar.”

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Throughout his press convention with Anwar, Marcos reiterated the necessity for the implementation of the 5-Level Consensus, an ASEAN peace plan that requires an instantaneous finish to the violence in Myanmar and inclusive political dialogue involving “all events” to the nation’s multifarious battle. Anwar added that the regional bloc needed to discover new methods for persuading the navy junta “to work and collaborate as a workforce with the ASEAN and resolve the excellent points.”

How precisely it’d do that, wanting abandoning the 5-Level Consensus and adopting a punitive measure, is difficult to see. The navy administration in Myanmar has proven no intention of implementing the settlement, paying it lip service whereas growing its assaults on resistance forces. Certainly, even the lip service could also be on the way in which out. Final week, an unnamed junta overseas affairs official was quoted by state media as saying that the emergency summit in Indonesia at which the 5-Level Consensus was agreed was “casual” and that the consensus was not “legally binding.”

Imprecise although they had been, Anwar’s feedback appear to counsel that Malaysia will proceed to assert a number one function within the Myanmar battle inside ASEAN. Over the previous two years, Malaysian officers have been unusually forthright of their condemnations of the navy administration in Naypyidaw and have advocated extra muscular regional motion to resolve or average the battle. Former International Minister Saifuddin Abdullah even recommended that the 5-Level Consensus might be scrapped, ought to the navy junta proceed to stonewall ASEAN on its implementation.

On the similar time, the nation’s outspokenness has been countered by the more and more unsentimental line that its immigration authorities have taken towards Myanmar nationals searching for sanctuary in Malaysia. In October, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch claimed that the nation had returned greater than 2,000 Myanmar nationals since April of final 12 months, together with navy defectors, “with out assessing their asylum claims or different safety wants.” Two different rights teams reported that Malaysia deported a further 114 individuals in January, an motion that Amnesty Worldwide mentioned “exposes the federal government’s hypocrisy in coverage and apply.”

All the identical, Malaysian considerations about how it’s being immediately impacted by the battle, by way of a mounting toll of refugee arrivals, solely give it extra cause to attempt to maneuver the battle within the route of some kind of decision.