Indonesians Stage Rally to Voice Support for Myanmar Muslims

A large number of Indonesian people staged a rally in Jakarta in support of the Muslim minority in Myanmar, and called on the international community to take swift action to stop the ongoing crime against Muslims in the South East Asian state.

The Indonesian protesters gathered outside Myanmar’s Embassy in Jakarta and demanded the expulsion of Myanmar’s ambassador from Indonesia.

They also called on other nations to take action against the sectarian violence against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

The government of Myanmar refuses to recognize Rohingyas, who it claims are not natives and classifies as illegal migrants, although the Rohingya are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Burma as early as the 8th century.

Even Myanmar’s so-called democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has kept quiet on the atrocities committed against the Rohingya Muslims.

Myanmar’s President Thein Sein said Rohingya Muslims must be expelled from the country and sent to refugee camps run by the United Nations.

The UN says decades of discrimination have left the Rohingyas stateless, with Myanmar implementing restrictions on their movement and withholding land rights, education and public services.

Since June, hundreds of members of the nearly-one-million-strong Rohingya Muslim minority have been killed and tens of thousands of others among them have been displaced in the west of the country due to a wave of communal violence.

Over the past two years, waves of ethnic Muslims have attempted to flee by boats in the face of systematic oppression by the Myanmar government.