At the 77th UN General Assembly at New York, the Prime Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, expressed his disappointment over the ceasefire situation in Myanmar.
According to his statement, “Malaysia cannot emphasize enough the importance of respecting the will and interests of the people of Myanmar. There is a need for a peaceful solution to be found, especially with a multitude of challenges besetting the country.”
The Malaysian PM addressed that, it was as if the UN Security Council had washed its hands off and left the matter to be resolved by the ASEAN bloc.
According to him, there had been no meaningful progress in the implementation of the Asean Five-Point Consensus, especially by the Myanmar’s junta. He added that it needed to be given a new lease of life and refined with a clearer framework, timeframe and an end goal.
At the same time, Ismail Sabri, Malaysia felt it was important for the world to address the root cause of the “Rohingya crisis”, and believed the issue would not be resolved as long as it continued.
Although Malaysia had not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol, Ismail Sabri said the nation still opened its doors to nearly 200,000 Rohingya refugees.
Therefore, it was the responsibility of all nations, including countries under the convention, he said, to take in more refugees.
