Malaysian Mission to Aid Rohingyas Blocked

24 February 2014

A humanitarian aid mission to assist Rohingyas in Burma’s Arakan State failed last week due to opposition from local Buddhists, Malaysia’s state-run Bernama news agency reported on Sunday. The mission, sent by the Malaysian Islamic Organisations Consultative Council (Mapim), was called off after three of its members were surrounded by around 100 “Buddhist extremists” at their hotel and had to be rescued by local authorities, Mapim President Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid said. Mapim media chief Zulhanis Zainol, who was one of five members of the mission, said that after the confrontation on Thursday night, the group was taken to the police headquarters near Sittwe Airport, where they remained until they left the country.