Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today urged ASEAN to take action against Myanmar for what they have done to the Rohingyas.

He said there is no other way to label what the Myanmar government has done except for genocide and even suggested for Myanmar to leave ASEAN.

“What happening to them (the Rohingyas) is so terrible that nothing could describe it… we can only understand it through the photos that we see,” he said during keynote speech at the International Conference ‘Plight of the Rohingya Part II: Crime Against Humanity’ on Friday.
“
If Myanmar wants to commit genocide, then leave ASEAN
”
- Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad


According to Dr Mahathir, Myanmar’s action had clearly violated human rights and cannot be accepted.

He said ASEAN must tell Myanmar to stop this cruelty and take necessary actions if Myanmar refuses to do so.

Besides that, Dr Mahathir also urged the countries in ASEAN to put aside the policy of not interfering with other country’s internal affairs especially when it involves mass killing and genocide.


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“If Myanmar wants to commit genocide, then leave ASEAN,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir also said that he had sent a letter to Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the issue, but said he did not receive a reply.

However, he does not rule out the possibility that Suu Kyi probably did not receive the letter.

He added that Myanmar’s cruelty against the Rohingyas and the failure to settle this problem can give ASEAN a bad name.

He said it is Myanmar's fault that Rohingyas are fleeing to other countries and becoming boat people.