PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang today urged the government to be more proactive in its efforts to stop Rohingya persecution.

“The Malaysian government has to cooperate and proactively act with other countries, political parties, NGOs and international agencies, not only to send a humanitarian mission but also to put political pressure on the government of Myanmar with respect to humanitarian rights.

“Political power plays an important role to stop this persecution,” Abdul Hadi said in a press statement today.

The world must realise that the Rohingyas' oppression is a humanitarian issue, he said.

Their oppression, he said, has also exposed several underlying issues, that is the issue of human rights, discrimination against minority groups by the majority, the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim community, the failure of international and regional organisations in solving this, as well as the military violence and barbaric nature of modern society in oppressing people.

“Attention from the world is needed,” he said.

Countries that have signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Conventions, as well as Asean countries, the UN, the Islamic nations of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Islamic state councils and all other human rights defenders must work together to help the Rohingya community, he said.

PAS, he added, will send a humanitarian mission through PASRelief and NGOs, and it will also negotiate with the government and international agencies to put an end to this “barbaric cruelty” and return to the negotiating table.

“I urge all Malaysians and the international community, let us unite and work together on humanitarian grounds.

“Let us pressure the Myanmar government to accept the rights of the Rohingya community and resolve this conflict peacefully,” he said.