“It was an opportunity missed,” he told FMT.
“If we had taken a firm stand and spoken up at the summit about how appalled we are by the Myanmar government’s failure to recognise what is happening, we would have put our money where our mouth is.”
Razak noted that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, had in September described the killing of Rohingya in Myanmar as “ethnic cleansing”.
“While we recognise the Asean principle of non-interference, as the UN has noted, this is ethnic cleansing, and it is therefore no longer a question of domestic affairs,” he said.
The Asean Summit, which kicked off on Monday along with related summits, was held in Manila. Prime Minister Najib Razak led the Malaysian delegation, which included Foreign Minister Anifah Aman and International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed.
All 10 Asean countries were in attendance, including Myanmar, which was represented by its state counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Razak said Malaysia could also have made the decision to pull out all investments or cease operations in Myanmar as long as the killing of Rohingya continued.
“But we haven’t done that. Now, and even while the Asean summit was taking place, innocent people were getting killed and we have not done anything apart from a few speeches and rallies here and there.
“Even Oxford has stripped Aung San Suu Kyi of her accolade.”
Last October, the Oxford city council voted unanimously to strip the Myanmar leader of the Freedom of the City of Oxford award, although it decided not to reconsider Suu Kyi’s honorary degree. Nevertheless, Oxford University expressed “profound concern” over the treatment of the Rohingya minority.
Last week, opposition MPs in Malaysia urged Petronas to pull out from Myanmar until its government recognises the rights of the Rohingya.
In December last year, a rally organised by several Muslim NGOs and Yayasan Dakwah Islam Malaysia (Yadim) saw Umno and PAS side by side in protest against the treatment of the Rohingya.
Razak addressed the possibility that the alleged ethnic cleansing was due to a rise in Buddhist extremism.
“We are seeing the rearing of the ugly head of religious extremism, which is dividing societies everywhere,” he said.
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