"The Indonesian delegation however has given attention to it as well as Myanmar."
Senggigi, West Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - ASEAN parliamentary delegations did not specially discuss the Rohingya in their 33rd ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) meeting ending here on Friday.

The AIPA Executive Committee did not include the problem in the list of issues to be discussed in the meeting.

Indonesian house speaker Marzuki Alie said replying reporters` questions after officially closing the meeting that until the end of the meeting only two delegations gave special attention to the issue namely delegations from Indonesia and Myanmar.

In the Executive Committee meeting in Yogyakarta in July and in an additional session on September 17 no delegation proposed discussion of the issue and therefore it was not included in the agenda of the 33rd AIPA meeting.

"The Indonesian delegation however has given attention to it as well as Myanmar," he said.

The Indonesian chief delegate Priyo Budi Santoso said he had firmly stated the country`s stance towards the issue in his speech at the first plenary session.

He said he had also asked Myanmar to protect the Rohingya ethnic group and settle the issue peacefully and fairly.

"I think it is wrong to think that without any resolution on the Rohingya it means that the problem is not important," he said.

He said the Myanmarese delegation has officially explained the chronology of the events that led to violence in the Rakhine state.

The Myanmarese government said it it was not an inter-religious conflict but it was a conflict between different groups originating from a criminal case of murder and rape.

"Our communication with the Myanmarese delegation, the explanation of the Myanmarese delegation to the Indonesian House of Representatives and the speech of the Myanmarese chief delegate on the issue, I think, are sufficient enough to show that we have all responded to the issue," Marzuki said. ***1***

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(T.SYS/B/H-YH/A014) 21-09-2012 22:52:20

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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