by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, February 22, 1992:
All other ASEAN leaders should follow the example of Cory Aquino to send direct messages to the Myanmar military junta on its abuses and violations of human rights
The initiative by the Philippine President Corazon Aquino in a letter to the Myanmar military junta asking it to allow the immediate family of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to visit her at home is the first time a ASEAN leader has taken any action with regard to the abuses and violations of human rights in Myanmar.
DAP calls on other ASEAN leaders to follow the example of Cory Aquino and send direct messages to Myanmar’s governing State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) on its abuses and violations of human rights.
DAP suggests that the ASEAN Foreign Ministers should convene an emergency meeting to consider more effective ways and strategies to get the Myanmar military junta to stop its abuses and violations of human rights.
This has become even more pressing with the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar which has resulted in some 100,000 Rohingya fleeing the western Myanmar state of Arakan into Bangladesh.
Berita Harian today quoted Bangladesh sources as saying that nearly 220,000 Rohingya Muslims who are still in Arakan, Myanmar are making preparations to cross the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in the next few days.
The Berita Harian correspondent, Hambali Abdul Latif, who had been covering the Rohingya Muslim refugees from the refugee camps at Cox’s Bazaar at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, quoted a Bangladesh administration spokesman as saying.
“Tindakan tentera Myanmar merampas rumah, masjid serta melakukan pelbagai jenayah terhadap Rohingya menyebagkan mereka memilih untuk melarikan diri.”
DAP calls on the Cabinet to lodge a formal protest with the Myanmar military junta condemning its abuses and violations of human rights in Myanmar, in particular over the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and the persecution of the Myanmar Rohingya Muslims.