YANGON: Myanmar has stopped workers going to Malaysia after Malaysia’s leader criticised its treatment of Muslims, while Indonesia joined a growing chorus of concern about the fate of Myanmar’s stateless Rohingya Muslims.

The prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, on the weekend described the violence as “genocide” and called for foreign intervention. Myanmar on Tuesday summoned Malaysia’s ambassador over what it described as Najib’s “unverified and unsubstantiated allegations”.

The deputy permanent secretary of Myanmar’s Labour Ministry, Maung Maung Kyaw, said Myanmar workers had been temporarily stopped form going to Malaysia because of security worries. He declined to comment when asked if the ban was in response to Najib’s criticism, saying only it was “because of the ongoing situation”. “We instructed all licensed overseas employment agencies to pause sending migrant workers to Malaysia effective December 6 as there are reasons to worry about their security,” said Maung Maung Kyaw. It was not clear how long the freeze would last, he said.

Labour-short Malaysia hosts about 147,000 Myanmar migrant workers, according to latest data available from Myanmar.

Indonesia’s foreign minister Retno Marsudi said on Wednesday she had expressed her concern to Aung San Suu Kyi over the treatment of Rohingya Muslims.

Published in Dawn December 8th, 2016