JAKARTA – Civil rights organizations in Indonesia filed criminal charges Monday against Myanmar’s recently-elected President Min Aung Hlaing, alleging he committed genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority population.
Myanmar holds membership in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), though diplomatic ties have deteriorated following Min Aung Hlaing’s 2021 military takeover, which sparked ongoing civil conflict and created a humanitarian emergency that has displaced countless Rohingya Muslims into refugee camps.
Indonesia serves as ASEAN’s headquarters and represents the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, making it a destination for Rohingya refugees escaping Myanmar or overcrowded camps by sea.
Under Min Aung Hlaing’s military leadership, Myanmar’s forces conducted a 2017 campaign that drove more than 730,000 Rohingya people from their communities into neighboring Bangladesh, where survivors reported systematic murders, widespread sexual violence and deliberate burning of villages.
The formal complaint submitted to Indonesia’s Attorney General came from Yasmin Ullah, a Rohingya refugee who escaped Myanmar, alongside prominent Indonesian leaders including a former attorney general and the head of Muhammadiyah, a major Indonesian Muslim organization, according to their Monday statement.
The complainants indicated they would provide documentation of systematic displacement affecting the Rohingya – recognized as the world’s largest population without citizenship – along with evidence of killings carried out by the military government, noting that Indonesian prosecutors have officially accepted their case.
“It is the first time under Indonesia’s new penal code that a case has been officially received and I warmly welcome this historic development as a milestone for all Rohingya people on their long march to justice and accountability,” Ullah said.
The legal team explained that Indonesia’s criminal laws permit “universal jurisdiction” for particularly severe crimes, allowing prosecution without regard to the victims’ citizenship or the location where alleged crimes occurred.
Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office has not yet provided a response to requests for comment.
Gambia, another nation with a Muslim majority, presented arguments in January before the United Nations’ highest court, claiming Myanmar systematically targeted the Rohingya Muslim minority for elimination and subjected them to horrific conditions in a groundbreaking genocide case.
Myanmar has consistently rejected genocide accusations. The military government did not immediately respond to Monday’s request for comment.
Min Aung Hlaing secured the presidency through legislative voting last week following his military-supported party’s victory in December and January elections that Western nations condemned as fraudulent, cementing his political control.
The 2021 military coup has generated continuous public demonstrations and nationwide opposition movements.
