Syed Hamid: OIC wants better communication with Myanmar

By Bernama

July 4, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR: Recently appointed Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Special Envoy to Myanmar, Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said his first priority was to have better communication with the government of Myanmar.

He intends to visit the country in order to explain to the government and people of Myanmar the intentions of OIC and the objectives of his appointment as Special Envoy.

"He considers his assignment a responsibility and his goal is to establish better communication and improve networking with both Myanmar government and society in order to find greater opportunities for the OIC to engage in the country," the Jeddah-based OIC secretariat said in a statement.

On the sidelines of the OIC Foreign Ministers Meeting in Jeddah last month, Syed Hamid explained at length to the OIC Journal the challenges and expectations of his mission concerning the situation of the Muslim minority, namely Rohingya, in Myanmar.

He said Myanmar had just started to be accepted by the international community and at the same time had very bad publicity on the issue of minorities.

"With elections coming up in 2015, it is good for Myanmar to engage with the international community and particularly with OIC," the former Malaysian foreign minister was quoted as saying.

"We need to assure them that we are not interested in interfering in their domestic affairs, but we want to say that we see countries that succeed are the countries that decide on peace and reconciliation. You cannot put security up front, but you must put peace and reconciliation in order to achieve political stability," he said.

He stressed that OIC was seeking a solution that was good for Myanmar.