Navina
Vivekanandan May 15, 2015 FMT news
The Mufti of Perlis notes that no religious
figure has condemned the persecution in Myanmar.
PETALING JAYA: With the nation in conflict
over the Rohingya boat people crisis, Perlis Mufti Mohd Asri Zainul
Abidin has noted the silence of religious figures, particularly
those of the Buddhist persuasion, regarding the persecution of
Muslims in Myanmar.
In
a Facebook posting, Mohd Asri condemned the brutality that Myanmar
Buddhists were perpetrating against the Rohingya, who are Muslims.
He said it was strange that the world had not chosen to label them
extremists or say the teachings of Buddha advocated violence as
they tended to do with the Muslims.
“Why does the world associate Islam with
violence but stay silent when Muslims are brutally murdered?” he
asked. “Are the Buddhists in this country condemning the
persecution in Burma (Myanmar)?”
He
said that while Muslims often condemned the wrongdoings or violence
perpetrated by fellow Muslims as a sign that Islam did not advocate
violence, rarely had followers of other religions done the
same.
“We rarely hear figures of other religions,
such as Buddhism, objecting to the violence perpetrated by their
co-followers. Hopefully, they will adopt a firmer
stance.”
The Rohingya people have long faced
persecution in the increasingly polarised Myanmar, where they are
denied citizenship.
A
recent crackdown at the Thai border saw many human traffickers
leaving their human cargo, Bangladeshis and Rohingya, floating
aimlessly at sea with rudimentary instructions on how to reach
their destinations.
However, the Malaysia government has stood
firm and ordered “seaworthy” ships carrying the desperate and dying
immigrants back to sea on grounds of national security.