Indonesian Foreign Minister Marsudi visiting Myanmar, committed to mediate


Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) : Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has said that the government of Indonesia has been committed to help authorities in Myanmar de-escalate the crisis in the country. Conflict between Buddhist (and some Hindu) communities and predominantly Muslim Rohingya are strongly affected by foreign elements.

(archives)

(archives)

Retno Marsudi, before welcoming Costa Ricas Foreign Affairs Minister Manuel Gonzalez Sans in Jakarta on Sunday, said “Instead of merely issuing statements we (the Indonesian government) have chosen to do something to support and help the community affected by the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.” Minister Marsudi is scheduled to leave for Myanmar in the evening to carry out her mission to help Myanmar deal with the crisis. Her visit is expected with some skepticism as the Indonesian government has previously – according to many analysts – made highly biased, tendentious and unreflected statements about “the plight of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya”.

However, during her forthcoming visit, Marsudi said, she will discuss any support the Indonesian government could deliver to assist Myanmar in easing the tension in Rakhine state. “Although we acknowledge Myanmars authority in resolving the crisis, we believe there would be areas where the Indonesian government along with other international communities could help to solve the problem,” she stated.  To halt the humanitarian crisis, Marsudi explained, her top priority would be to help the victims by first examining problems at all levels.

“Before offering answers to stop the crisis, we should know how the problem initially emerged and its latter consequences. I also have maintained communication with our counterpart in Bangladesh, mainly in dealing with the refugees. Although we still discuss the details, so far, the Bangladeshi government has lauded our efforts,” the minister reiterated. As the first foreign minister allowed to enter Myanmar after the crisis, Marsudi hoped the meeting with the authorities in that country would go in accordance with the plan.

“Indonesia would be the first country allowed to conduct a meeting with the Myanmar authorities since the clash,” she noted while adding, she had received phone calls from several countries, including Netherlands, ahead of her visit to Myanmar. Indonesia has been confronted with an international storm of protests and statements of concerns about the situation of the Rohingya population – statements that were about as biased or unreflected as previous statemts from the side of the Indonesian government and the OIC.

Retno Marsudi (archives)

Retno Marsudi (archives)

“The Netherlands foreign minister (Bert Koenders) contacted me, while expressing his support to the Indonesian government to deescalate situation in Rakhine. European countries also commit to back any preventive measures proposed by our country ahead of the meeting with the Myanmar authorities,” she remarked.  Indonesia, as well as the international community, according to the minister, deeply deplored a new cycle of violence occurring in Myanmar last month.

“We truly regret the new crisis occurring in Myanmar late in August. Therefore, we would continue this humanitarian partnership with the Myanmar authorities, while seeking other available options that could immediately be implemented in Rakhine. Kofi Annan, the head of Advisory Commission on Rakhine State has launched a report on the situation in the country. Following his recommendation, I believe it corresponds to our efforts in the country,” she reiterated.

Marsudi explained, according to the report, any support to Myanmar should cover crucial sectors including education, health, as well as livelihood.  Following clashes since 2015 in Rakhine, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said last month over 18,000 Rohingya Muslims have been displaced on the border areas between Myanmar and Bangladesh, as well as other countries, including Indonesia and Malaysia. Meanwhile, after the attack on Aug 25, the number of refugees fled to Bangladesh has significantly increased by 5,200 people, according to the UNHCR.

Foreign powers, including Bangladesh, foreign terrorist organizations including Harakah al-Yaqin, Harukat-ul-Jihad-ul-Islam, Afghanistan’s Taliban and other foreign-backed Islamist organizations are fueling the ethnic and religious violence in Myanmar, in part with help from Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and other foreign state and non-state actors.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar_Afghanistan_Kabul_2017In early September Afghanistan’s Hezb-e-Islami party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar who is “no stranger to terrorism and intelligence on terrorist networks” slammed Islamist terrorist organizations including Afghanistan’s Taliban for fueling the violence between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar in recent years. The party stressed that Islamist extremism forced  Buddhists into taking action to defend themselves, thus fueling the eruption of the violence.

However, there are other – less tainted and controversial sources documenting the involvement of foreign-backed Islamist terrorist organizations as well as neighboring Bangladesh and its military intelligence service.

Intelligence reports from 2012, reviewed by this author, showed that violence in Myanmar’s  Rakhine State, supposedly between Muslim Rohingya and Buddhists, has been planned and executed in collusion between the Al-Qaeda associated Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islam (HuJI) and the George Soros funded Rohingya Solidarity Organization. The basis of operations for these organizations and for the violence are Rohingya camps in Bangladesh. Both organizations as well as the camps are under supervision of Bangladesh´s intelligence service, DGFI.

Later intelligence reports reviewed by nsnbc international in January 2017 substantiate that this trend has continued and now increasingly involved a group that designates itself as Harakah al-Yaqin (a.k.a. Faith Movement, HaY). In fact, nsnbc international, in January 2017, warned that Islamists are opening new fronts in India and Myanmar.

Links between the DGFI and Pakistan’s ISI as well as Saudi intelligence have been reported. The HaY is led by the committee of Rohingya in Saudi Arabia and its commanders on the ground are Rohingya from Myanmar’s Rakhine State as well as from Rohingya refugee centers in Bangladesh.

vschina myanmar pipelinekrIt must be stressed that there is a significant amount of “internally displaced” Rohingya in Bangladesh and that most of the Rohingya who have come to Myanmar in recent decades fled oppression and internal displacement in Bangladesh. It is also noteworthy that a retired DGFI officer, in 2012, stressed to nsnbc that recruitment in Rohingya camps in Bangladesh is conducted under supervision of the DGFI.

The emergence of the HaY bears all the hallmarks of being extraordinarily well-organized and well-funded. The development comes as Myanmar’s new government attempts to find a political footing based on national coherence, national sovereignty, and an independent geopolitical position that takes into account, both Myanmar’s proximity to neighboring China and the energy-political and geostrategic interests of India, China and western corporate cartels who are interested in the country’s hydrocarbons. Myanmar’s Rakhine State is the most resource-rich area in the greater Mekong region.

CH/L – nsnbc 17..09.2017

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Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/09/17/indonesian-foreign-minister-marsudi-visiting-myanmar-committed-to-mediate/

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