Malaysia holds international conference on Rohingya plight

The United Nation's refugee agency calls them the world's most persecuted ethnic minority.

And almost half of the total population of three million people have already fled Myanmar in the face of discrimination and violence.

Their plight had rarely made headlines except briefly earlier this year, after attacks against Rohingya Muslims in their home state, which left hundreds dead and caused thousands to flee.

Mohamad Sadek, a Rohingya refugee in Malaysia, lost a relative in the recent violence in Rakhine or Arakan as it is also known. 

Despite Myanmar's recent dramatic political reforms, there seems little hope that people like these impoverished refugees in Malaysia can ever return home. 

The Myanmar government still refuses to recognize the Rohingya as citizens, saying they are migrants from Bangladesh. 

Many people had high hopes that Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, would speak out about the plight of the Rohingya. But she has remained silent and when questioned whether the Rohingya were citizens of her country, she said "I don't know".

At the Perdana Global Peace forum on the plight of the Rohingya, Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said the conference wouldn't be looking to condemn Myanmar but rather seek long term solutions.

After a panel discussion with international speakers including the UN's former special envoy to Myanmar, the delegates passed a resolution to press the Myanmar government to recognize the Rohingya as its citizens.

Press TV