Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak must explain armed forces chief Zulkifeli Mohd Zin's presence in Myanmar, said PAS vice-president Iskandar Abdul Samad.

"(Zulkifeli's presence) is completely against (Najib's) firm stance displayed at the rally in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

"This sort of attitude would not put pressure on Myanmar's rulers to stop the killing and oppression (against Rohingyas) because our country is not seen as serious in championing the Muslim community's cause.

"This is unless the armed forces chief was there to warn that country's leaders," he said in a statement today.

He was responding to a Myanmar Times report yesterday which claimed that Zulkifeli had met Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to mend ties after protests in Malaysia.

Zulkifeli was reportedly told that there are no human rights violations against the Rohingya and Myanmar authorities could not lie on the matter due to local and international attention.

On Sunday, Najib led a protest by some 10,000 people at Stadium Mini Titiwangsa to oppose a recent uptick of alleged abuses against the Rohingya community.

There have been reports of a crackdown by the Myanmar military in the Rakhine state since early October, after militant attacks left nine border police dead.

Humanitarians groups have claimed that some 21,900 Rohingya had fled to Bangladesh over the past two months, according to the BBC citing figures from the International Organization for Migration.

Kofi Annan taken to task

Meanwhile, the Klang MP Charles Santiago slammed the former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan for denying that the abuses amounted to a genocide.

He said after Annan had admitted in 2004 that he could have done more to prevent the 1994 Rwandan genocide that took place under his watch, he should do better when another opportunity arises.

"But he has denied that the violence unleashed against the Rohingya in Myanmar is genocide, describing the butchering, murder and rape of the Rohingya as 'some fighting and tensions' between the minority Muslims and the military...

"While I didn't expect anything else from Annan, the man who was so passive as to be complicit despite having credible advance warning that a genocide was imminent in Rwanda, this is still shocking.

"While in 1994 Annan didn't want to upset the sitting Hutu government, it now looks as if he wants to align himself with Aung San Suu Kyi, who got Annan to spearhead a fact-finding mission to the Rakhine state," he said today.

Annan had been asked by Myanmar de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in August to lead a commission to look into tensions in Rakhine state, according to the BBC.

He reportedly told the BBC after a visit to the state that he would not describe the situation in Rakhine as a genocide, and that, "I think there are tensions, there has been fighting, but I wouldn't put it the way some have done."