KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — Two Rohingya men pleaded today with Asean and the international community to help stop the killings of the ethnic minority in Myanmar in order to combat human trafficking.

Sayed Mohamed and Mohd Rafique Khairul Bashar, who have been in Malaysia for four and 19 years respectively, accused the Myanmar government and Myanmar citizens of committing genocide against the Rohingya that is considered as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.

“The Burmese government and the local people they kill the Rohingyas, [it is ] ethnic cleansing because the Muslims can’t go anywhere, and can’t find food, gain money, they stay only in the village,” Sayed told reporters at the Parliament lobby here.

He said if Asean does not intervene, the issue will only worsen.

“If we can solve the problem in Myanmar, everything will be okay, it can stop human trafficking,” he said.

Sayed said human trafficking has increased since the spike in Rohingya killings in 2012.

“Rohingyas go to other countries because they don’t have security, they don’t have rights, they do not have education rights, no economic rights. They are human beings, it is their right to stay in the world,” he said.

The Rohingya suffer state-sanctioned discrimination in Myanmar and are denied citizenship, with the government considering the Muslim Rohingya illegal settlers from Bangladesh although their roots go back generations.

Mohd Rafique, who is also the chairman for Knowledge Garden Learning Centre that has 110 Rohingya students, pleaded with the Malaysian government, Asean and NGOs to help them resolve this crisis.

“We want to return to our home, Arakan, but how are we going to survive?” he said in Malay.

The Rohingyas already make up the bulk of the 150,000 registered refugees in Malaysia and in recent weeks, hundreds of Rohingyas as well as some Muslim Bangladeshis were left stranded at sea after the authorities in Thailand cracked down on human traffickers.

Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak ordered the navy to rescue the thousands of migrants adrift at sea.

So far more than 1,000 migrants were allowed to temporarily seek shelter in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, federal opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat announced today that it has set up a Rohingya anti-trafficking committee to follow up on the government’s actions in allowing the refugees to land and place them in Malaysia.

The committee is chaired by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Datuk Johari Abdul with Alor Star MP Gooi Hsiao Leung, Tumpat MP Datuk Kamarudin Jaafar and Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto as deputies.