The Rohingya are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world (Pic from Venturebeat)

The silence from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak over the brewing humanitarian crisis of Rohingya refugees has been slammed as ‘lame’ by an opposition MP today.

DAP Klang MP Charles Santiago in a statement said, in light of the regional catastrophe involving thousands of Rohingya refugees, Najib cannot remain silent as not only the nation’s premier, but chair of the ASEAN this year.

“Has anyone seen the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Tun Razak? We have a regional humanitarian crisis, a catastrophe, with thousands of Rohingya refugees adrift at sea and many more facing possible deportation to Burma,” Santiago said.

He was responding to the news that the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency will be shutting our doors to refugees, as Malaysia does not recognise refugee and classifies them as illegal immigrants. This follows a report that some 1,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi who arrived on our shores earlier this week seeking refuge are now being detained in Langkawi.

“While we welcome deputy home minister, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar’s statement, asking the region to send a strong message to Burma to stop persecuting the minority Rohingya community, this is not enough.

“We need Najib, as the head of state, to reprimand Burma and hold its quasi-civilian government accountable for the targeted persecution and killings of the Rohingya,” he added.

Santiago said state-sanctioned violence has been used against the Muslim Rohingyas in Buddhist-majority Burma for decades, and now they are at the mercy of Malaysia and Indonesia, who are adamant at turning their rickety boats back to the sea.

He added that Malaysia has been criticised from various quarters for its decision, and if Najib does not make a stand now, he would have made the chairmanship of Malaysia in the ASEAN a failure.

– The Rocket