GEORGE TOWN, Sept 8 – A group of about 20 Penang-based Muslim non-governmental organisations (NGOs) held a protest in Penang today to called on Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi to allow the United Nations to intervene and assist the Rohingya people in Rakhine.
Some 1,000 people gathered after Friday prayers outside the Kapitan Kling Mosque here, listening to leaders from the group rousing them to take action to defend the Rohingyas and pressure the Myanmar government to end the violence. They called on the United Nations (UN) and superpower nations to send military forces to stabilise the region.
Protesters held placards which read “Myanmar police and military are butchers”, “Stop the genocide” and “Stop killing our Rohingya brothers and sisters” Penang Muslim League president Datuk Haja Najmudeen Kader said it is time that the UN is allowed to enter and help the Rohingya, who have suffered at the hands of the country’s military.
“They are being treated inhumanely. Women and children are jailed and later burned to death. They also used their military powers to wipe out their homes. The UN must send its forces to control the situation there while neighbouring countries must pile pressure on the Myanmar government to stop this genocide,” he said in a statement today.
Other groups like the Penang Indian Muslim Association also made their voices heard in the protest. It was reported that the Myanmar military was cracking down on Muslim “terrorists” who had attacked security forces at Rakhine on Aug 25, leaving hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas displaced. — PN
