REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- A politician of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Abdul Kadir Karding, has urged the Indonesian government to take an active diplomatic measure to stop persecution against Rohingya ethnic minority in Myanmar. "I hope the Indonesian Government does not keep silent over the violence and human rights violation suffered by Rohingya," Karding, PKB secretary general, said here on Monday.

Indonesia is a big and influential nation in Southeast Asian region, so it could involve the ASEAN grouping in an effort to stop the persecution of Rohingya. "Indonesia, as a nation that could maintain ethnic and religious diversity, should be able to play an active role in promoting peace in ASEAN, and in Myanmar particularly," he remarked.

He also urged the United Nations to play a significant role in protecting Rohingya ethnic group. Persecution against Rohingya could disrupt regional stability in ASEAN, because the violence is related to ethnic and religious sentiments, he noted. "I call on the Muslims in Indonesia to keep calm and react proportionally concerning reports on persecution against Rohingya," he said.

He also called on the Indonesian people to pray for and provide assistance to Rohingya in Rakhine State, Myanmar.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno LP Marsudi said Indonesia has been continuously studying the conditions being faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar. "We are monitoring closely all the developments concerning the Rohingya people," Retno said at the Presidential Palace.

She noted that the ministry has been consistently observing the developments in the region, and it is her duty to seek clarification regarding any information about the situation in Rakhine State. "This morning, the director general of Asia Pacific and Africa held a meeting with Myanmar's ambassador in Jakarta. Once again, we explained the situation to the Myanmar government, conveying all information about the situation in Rakhine State (Myanmar)," she added.

In the meantime, a youth Muslim organization called Hizbullah has condemned the murders of tens of Rohingya Muslims by Myanmar military personnel recently. "Barbaric massacres committed by Myanmar military against Rohingya children, women and men are crimes against humanity that cannot be tolerated. Therefore, we strongly condemn the Myanmarese military and government for the cruelty," Hizbullah chairman, M Anshorullah, said here, on Monday.

The Myanmar government has clearly committed a genocide systematically and this is obviously against world peace, he remarked. "The Noble Prize awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi must be revoked," Anshorullah stated.

A total of 130 people have been killed in the latest surge of violence in the country, according to the Myanmar army. Al Jazeera reported on November 17 that the bloodshed was the most serious since hundreds were killed in communal clashes in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine in 2012.

It has exposed a lack of oversight of the military by the seven-month-old administration of Suu Kyi. The United Nations has labeled the Rohingya as one of the world's most persecuted people.

They are branded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh by Myanmar's majority Buddhist population, despite their long roots in the country, where they face apartheid-like restrictions on movement and are denied citizenship.

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