whom some label as victims of “ethnic persecution” - is threatening to blow up in the face of ASEAN, just weeks before the regional grouping convenes its 21th summit this month in Cambodia. To help defuse the humanitarian fallout from the Rohingya crisis, ASEAN has offered to work closely with the Myanmar government and the United Nations in the same way this tripartite arrangement effectively provided relief to the victims of Cyclone Nargis in 2008.
But Myanmar has rejected the offer on the ground that the conflict is an internal affair, according to Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan. He cautioned that the atrocities, if not ended, could radicalise the Rohingya Muslims and destabilise Southeast Asia.
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