PPBM Youth exco Mohd Ashraf Mustaqim, who was the spokesman for protesters who gathered outside the embassy today, said the memorandum was prepared in the spirit of diplomacy.

“We came diplomatically, not to pressure, condemn or to antagonise,” he told reporters.

Ashraf said they decided not to leave the memorandum at the embassy gate for fear that it would be “trashed”.

The Chinese government has been accused of oppressing the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang, with international media outlets reporting about concentration camps which Beijing calls “training camps” to rehabilitate “militants”.

The special rapporteur of the United Nations (UN) has said that as many as a million or 7% of Muslims in Xinjiang have been sent to such camps.

Among the groups represented at the protest today were Malay rights group Perkasa, students federation Association of Peninsular Malaysia (GPMS) and the Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM).

The memorandum calls on Beijing to allow the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to monitor the situation in Xinjiang.

“We would like to find out what is really happening in Xinjiang.

“We urge China to allow Malaysia to play the role of mediator to resolve the problems in Xinjiang,” Ashraf added.

He said the Uighur issue was not about anti-Muslim discrimination only, but also a humanitarian problem.

“We view this issue as a universal issue and we demand this to be voiced out,” he said, adding that they were prepared to meet embassy officials.

Earlier this year, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mujahid Yusof Rawa courted controversy when he uploaded pictures of his visit to a “vocational and training centre” for the Uighur community in China.