ASEAN: Myanmar must treat Muslim migrants better

The Jakarta Post, Eileen Ng, The Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur | Wed, 03/04/2009 4:13 PM  

Military-ruled Myanmar must assure its neighbors that thousands of Muslim boat people who have fled the country will not be persecuted if they're returned home, Malaysia's foreign minister said Wednesday.

The comments by Rais Yatim came after Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last week called for the Rohingya to be sent back to Myanmar because they had become a burden to the countries where they washed ashore. 

The Muslim Rohingya number about 800,000 in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, where they are denied full citizenship and face widespread abuses including forced labor, land seizures and rape, rights groups say. 

Thousands have fled to Bangladesh, Malaysia and the Middle East, and rights groups have expressed concern they will be tortured or killed if forced to return to Myanmar. 

Rais said the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations recently agreed to find a regional solution to the problem. ASEAN wants Myanmar to promise "not to persecute them when they go back," he said. 

Myanmar was informed of the bloc's wishes at a recent summit in Thailand, but the country's leaders didn't indicate whether it will cooperate, Rais told reporters. 

Rais said he will also send a diplomatic note to his Myanmar counterpart to urge it to comply with international human rights standards. 

The plight of the Rohingya gained international attention in January after allegations that more than 1,200 of them were detained by Thai authorities and later sent adrift at sea on boats with little food or water. 

Hundreds are believed to have drowned. 

Suaram, a Malaysian rights group, slammed the call to return the refugees as "inhumane," and urged ASEAN nations to give temporary shelter to the Rohingya until conditions were safe for them to return home. 

But Rais defended his government's stance. Malaysia has the biggest number of Rohingya refugees in the region, totaling 14,700, many of whom have stayed for years in the country, working illegally in plantations or factories, he said. 

"We like to state categorically that they are illegals coming to our country. ... We have to contend with the problem they are giving us," Rais said.