In times when fears of terrorist attacks in Southeast Asia still loom large, it is understandable why Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar was concerned when a group of Rohingya asylum seekers set ablaze the Burmese embassy in Kuala Lumpur and attacked its envoy earlier this month.

To reassure other diplomats, Noh quickly pointed out that it was an isolated incident and bore no relation to a bomb scare just weeks earlier at the Australian embassy.

While there appears no reason to doubt his reading of these two incidents, Noh was however, not entirely correct in claiming that the embassy was torched due to a dispute between officials there and the Rohingyas.

(Three Rohingya brothers arrested for the attack have since been charged with attempted murder of the envoy. If found guilty, they could be jailed for up to 20 years.)

In reality, it was only the latest in a series of incidents taking place at foreign missions involving Rohingya asylum seekers in Malaysia.