Rohingya Refugees: A Looming ASEAN Crisis?

Back in January, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak called on Muslim countries to lead international action over the plight of Myanmar's Rohingya community. Wirya Adiwena and Mohamad Hasan Ansori from The Habibie Centre in Indonesia recently published a study on this issue. Titled "ASEAN and Refugee Crisis," the research focussed on the situation in three ASEAN member states - Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. 

Both are in Kuala Lumpur to present their findings at an event called Talking Refugees. Wirya and Hasan Ansori explain why so many Rohingyas risk their lives on treacherous boat journeys towards our shores, Malaysia's pilot initiative allowing Rohingya refugees to work, and why an ASEAN legal framework to address this issue holistically has been hard to come by.