More Rohingya Muslims flee to Malaysia
July 3, 2013
These families are a few of the estimated 1500 Muslims who have fled to Malaysia from the violence in Myanmar over the past few months.
The Rohingya ethnic group has taken the brunt of the attacks by members of that country’s Buddhist majority.
There are already tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Malaysia. And the recent influx is causing a huge strain on the community’s limited resources.
And with violence still sporadically breaking out in Myanmar, there is no reason to think the flow of refugees to Malaysia will stop anytime soon.
Malaysia has seen another spillover effect. Recent violent clashes between Buddhists and Muslims from Myanmar left several people dead, prompting the Malaysian government to round up and detain at least a thousand people.
And in a break with the non-interference policy practiced by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN, Malaysia has urged Myanmar to take stronger action to prevent the persecution of Muslims.
But given its history, analysts say it seems unlikely that ASEAN will go beyond mere words to ease the suffering of the Rohingya people.
