PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak is to be lauded for his bold and decisive advocacy and action to protect what have been described many times as the most unwanted and discriminated against people of the world.
During my time helping the seven main ethnic minorities who themselves were subject to extreme persecution in Myanmar, I was shocked to be told that the Rohingya were not to be helped and that they have no rights in Myanmar.
There are by most accounts at least 1.3 million ethnic Rohingyas within Myanmar's borders. A humanitarian solution must be found lest this situation deteriorates as did East Timor (1999) or Rwanda (1994).
A radical but humanitarian solution would be if each of the Asean members agreed to take in a proportion of these peoples as permanent or semi-permanent humanitarian entrants. Other regional players could also be approached to participate, such as South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. This would make up about a dozen participant states, making the numbers entering each country manageable and practical.
Not only would this region be performing a magnanimous humanitarian act that would rival Germany's acceptance of one million displaced persons from Syria, it would also give these modest and luckless persons a wonderful new opportunity, and also provide some much needed economic stimulus to the region at a time in which global economic growth continues to struggle.
At a time in which hostility, conflict, mistrust, suspicion and violence (by state and non-state actors) seems to be the order of the day, it would provide much needed example of leadership, cooperation and compassion between a vast array of states, religions, cultures and communities.
Simon Wood
Petaling Jaya
During my time helping the seven main ethnic minorities who themselves were subject to extreme persecution in Myanmar, I was shocked to be told that the Rohingya were not to be helped and that they have no rights in Myanmar.
There are by most accounts at least 1.3 million ethnic Rohingyas within Myanmar's borders. A humanitarian solution must be found lest this situation deteriorates as did East Timor (1999) or Rwanda (1994).
A radical but humanitarian solution would be if each of the Asean members agreed to take in a proportion of these peoples as permanent or semi-permanent humanitarian entrants. Other regional players could also be approached to participate, such as South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. This would make up about a dozen participant states, making the numbers entering each country manageable and practical.
Not only would this region be performing a magnanimous humanitarian act that would rival Germany's acceptance of one million displaced persons from Syria, it would also give these modest and luckless persons a wonderful new opportunity, and also provide some much needed economic stimulus to the region at a time in which global economic growth continues to struggle.
At a time in which hostility, conflict, mistrust, suspicion and violence (by state and non-state actors) seems to be the order of the day, it would provide much needed example of leadership, cooperation and compassion between a vast array of states, religions, cultures and communities.
Simon Wood
Petaling Jaya