Deputy director-general of the President’s Office U Zaw Htay has asked Malaysia to respect its sovereignty and the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of fellow Asean countries.
“We have always followed and respected this principle. We hope the Malaysian government will continue to follow it,” Zaw Htay told The Myanmar Times.
Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had recently announced that a protest attended by Malaysian leaders, including the prime minister, would be held on Sunday to express concern over the violence inflicted on the Rohingyas in Myanmar
Zahid had said that Malaysia would not sit still while thousands of innocent Rohingyas were murdered in state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing.
He said while the Malaysian government did not have any intention of interfering in Myanmar’s domestic affairs, no Asean member state should be allowed to get away with such atrocities, especially when other countries, Malaysia specifically, had to carry the burden of caring for the Rohingyas seeking refuge on its shores.
As of October, there were 135,475 Myanmar refugees in Malaysia, comprising Rohingyas, Chins and other Myanmar ethnicities.
The protest follows Malaysia’s last-minute cancellation on Nov 30 of two football matches against Myanmar, scheduled on Dec 9 and 12, over the handling of the Rakhine state crisis.
On Nov 25, Malaysia’s foreign affairs ministry strongly condemned the escalation of violence and called on the Myanmar government to take the necessary actions to address the alleged ethnic cleansing in northern Rakhine state.
Last week, about 1,000 people staged a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur
Zaw Htay has accused the latest protest of being a calculated political decision to win the support of the Malaysian public and which had little to do with Myanmar.
“We will call on the Malaysian ambassador regarding the protest and to ask if the Malaysian prime minister is participating. If so, we will monitor the event,” he said.
Zaw Htay said public protests in Malaysia had caused the Myanmar government to grow concerned for the safety of its citizens living in Malaysia.
“Myanmar citizens should be careful and they should not go outside without companions.”