Burma Must Recognise Rohingya or Face Asean Disgrace
 |
| Former Asean Secretary General Dr Surin Pitsuwan on Phuket last year (Photo - Phuket Wan) |
Alan Morison & Chutima Sidasathian
Phuket Wan
January 10, 2013
PHUKET: Indonesia is interceding in Burma as the Asean partners desperately try to stem international damage from years of Asean subterfuge and inaction on the Rohingya issue.
Dr Surin Pitsuwan, who has just retired after five years as Secretary General of the 10-nation group, told Phuketwan today that human rights in Burma was an issue that had to be addressed.
Since the pushbacks from Thailand were exposed in 2009, the word ''Rohingya'' has reverberated around the region.
The covert pushbacks were Thailand's way of dealing with an issue that Burma and its neighbors wanted to hide from the word.
In 2013, with satellite images being used by activist group Human Rights Watch as evidence of the torching of thousands of Rohingya homes in Burma's Rakhine state, secrets are more difficult to keep.
