In his Facebook post, Najib said that both of them engaged in a very warm and productive telephone conversation earlier yesterday.

“Among other matters, we talked about the economy in the US and Malaysia.

“I congratulated him on his election victory, and we agreed to further strengthen US-Malaysia ties,” said Najib, adding that it was “great to reconnect with Trump following his outstanding win”.

Republican Trump, 70, defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the presidential race earlier this month to become the 45th president of the United States.

In an exclusive interview with The Star which was published yesterday, Najib said he had partnered billionaire-turned-politician Trump in a golf game several years ago and they won.

Their winning partnership was the setting for the much-talked about photograph of Najib and the president-elect, which Trump had signed, describing Najib as his “favourite Prime Minister”.

Trump had autographed the memento of their golf encounter with the phrase: “To my favourite Prime Minister. Great win!”

“We called each other a few times and after that, he became so involved in the process (of the US presidential election) so I didn’t quite follow up with him. Maybe later, once he’s settled in,” said Najib in the interview.

The United Nations has expressed alarm over violence against Muslim Rohingya, who may be victims of “crimes against humanity”, and UN staff have said the reputation of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government is at stake, as former UN chief Kofi Annan arrived in Myanmar for a trip that will include a visit to Rakhine state.
Following attacks by armed assailants against border security posts in October, the military’s response has reportedly been characterised by excessive use of force and other serious human rights violations against the Rohingya, including allegations of extrajudicial executions, torture, rape and the destruction of religious property.
“These allegations must be verified as a matter of urgency. If they are true, the lives of thousands of people are at risk. The reputation of Myanmar, its new government and its military forces is also at stake in this matter,” said Adama Dieng, the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.
About 30,000 people have fled their homes and analysis of satellite images by Human Rights Watch found that hundreds of buildings in Rohingya villages have been razed.
Myanmar has denied allegations of abuse, saying the army is hunting “terrorists” who are behind raids on police posts last month.
The government has lashed out at media reports of rapes and killings, and lodged a protest against a UN official in Bangladesh who said the state was carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya.
Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry’s permanent secretary Kyaw Zeya met UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) resident representative Giuseppede Vincentiis on Tuesday to explain measures reportedly taken for the stability of Rakhine State.
Meanwhile, Nay Pyi Taw reacted angrily to a statement made by a UN official regarding “ethnic cleansing”, saying the official “not only breached the code of conduct of UN personnel, but also undermined the trust and confidence placed in and the cooperation extended to the UNHCR by Myanmar”.
The government has lodged a complaint over the statement with the UNHCR in Geneva since last week, according to Myanmar Eleven.
“The current restrictions on access to Rakhine State, which prevent verification of the allegations, are contributing to suspicion and alarm. Denying the allegations without allowing for their verification is counterproductive,”
The UN official urged the Myanmar government and the military to heed requests by the UN – and many other parties across the world – to authorise access and an immediate and thorough independent investigation into incidents reported in Rakhine.
Dieng reminded Suu Kyi’s government, which took office early this year after a landslide victory in 2015 election, of the trust placed in the government by the international community as Myanmar transitions to democracy.
“Myanmar needs to demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law and to the human rights of all its populations. It cannot expect that such serious allegations are ignored or go unscrutinised,” he said in a statement.
The UN official also urged Bangladesh not to close its borders to refugees fleeing Myanmar. “Closing the border, deporting refugees or failing to provide assistance, exposes these populations to further violence that could, in the worst case, constitute international crimes,” Dieng said.
On Tuesday, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) said Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya could be tantamount to crimes against humanity, reiterating the findings of a June report.
“The government has largely failed to act on the recommendations made in a report by the UN Human Rights Office … [that] raised the possibility that the pattern of violations against the Rohingya may amount to crimes against humanity,” the UNHCHR said in a statement.
Amid the mounting crisis, former UN chief Annan on Tuesday began a week-long visit to Myanmar that will include a trip to Rakhine.
Suu Kyi in August appointed fellow-Nobel laureate Annan to head a special commission to investigate how to mend bitter religious and ethnic divides that split the impoverished state.
Annan, who won a Noble Peace Prize in 2001, has expressed “deep concern” over the violence in Rakhine, while thousands of angry Muslims have taken to the streets across Asia in protest.

Three brothers — Omar Farukh, Omar Khayer and Omar Sadeque — were still in school uniform which had the logo of their school in Myanmar. The white shirts of the boys, aged between 8 and 10, became quite dirty as they had been wearing them for over a week.

On Friday night, they along with their mother, Shamsunnahar, 34, and three younger siblings reached the Nazirartek dry fish processing zone in Cox’s Bazar town.

Their father, Hossain Ahmed, a farmer from Bar Gazobil village in Myanmar, has been missing since Myanmar police arrested him two weeks ago.

“We crossed the Naf river on Thursday morning and reached the fisheries project area near Rongikhali. There, BGB men stopped us and gave us food. Later that evening, they sent us back in our boat,” said Shamsunnahar.

However, they returned and managed to reach the unregistered Rohingya camp at Leda in Teknaf. Later, they went to Nazirartek where Shamsunnahar’s mother Rahima Khatun has been living for the last eight years.

Wrapped in a shroud, the body of a child being taken out of the unregistered Rohingya camp at Leda in Teknaf for burial by his father Jamal Hossain yesterday morning. The child died of cold-related disease hours after he along with his family reached the camp on Friday evening. Photo: Anisur Rahman
“Four of my children used to go to school. Now, I will have to work here just to survive,” Shamsunnahar told The Daily Star in front of her mother’s rented house.

The rent for an eight feet by six feet hut in Nazirartek is only Tk 400 and many of the Rohingyas who are crossing into Bangladesh from Myanmar have been living in the area.

Many Myanmar citizens, like Mariam Khatun, Fatema Begum, Khaleda Begum and Khurshida Begum, who have taken shelter there, are working as day labourers.

On the other hand, many were getting into different slums in Cox’s Bazar town, Chittagong, Bandarban and other districts, due to the absence of proper monitoring.

Contacted, Ali Hossain, deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar, claimed that different government intelligence agencies and law enforcers were monitoring the matter.

“But still many of them [Rohingyas] are spreading to different places because they have relatives who have been living in Bangladesh for many years. Those relatives are helping them,” he said.

However, Abu Morshed Chowdhury Khoka, president of Cox’s Bazar Civil Society, a platform of citizens in the district, claimed that the spreading of Rohingyas to different places in Bangladesh would have a negative impact on the society. “They [Rohingyas] are getting involved in crimes.” he said.

It is necessary to keep all the Rohingyas at a certain place with the help of the UNHCR,” said Khoka. He urged the government to take necessary steps in this regard.

The Rohingyas were stilling coming into Bangladesh through the Naf river despite increased vigilance by law enforcers.

Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) said they had to send back four boats full of Rohingyas yesterday in the river.

Meanwhile, a five-month-old child died of cold-related disease early yesterday at the unregistered Rohingya camp at Leda in Teknaf. He along with family had reached the camp on Friday evening hours after crossing into Bangladesh.

“He was having severe cold and cough,” said Nur Begum, his mother.

Nur Begum said they came to the Leda camp on Friday along with 40 other Myanmar citizens.

PANIC IN RAKHINE VILLAGE

Rakhine people in Teknaf have been living in panic since the Rohingyas started to cross into Bangladesh recently.

“It is very natural that we are scared. Situation is bad in Myanmar. The wind may start blowing towards us here in Bangladesh,” said Ching Cho Aung, president of New Chang Prue Keyang in Hnila Chowdhury Para in Teknaf.

However, the government has been taking initiatives to protect them from any untoward situation.

“Every night, police are patrolling our village. Police have been deployed at the entrance of our village,” he said.

Only 120 Rakhine families are living in Hnila Chowdhury Para which is just three kilometers off the Leda Rohingya camp.

HOME MINISTER ON ROHINGYAS

Rohingyas are coming to Bangladesh crossing the Naf river though the country is overburdened by them, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said yesterday.

He was addressing a programme as chief guest in Naogaon, reports our correspondent in Dinajpur.

Later, Asaduzzaman told reporters that the Rohingyas are coming in despite the BGB working round the clock on the border to stop them. On the other hand, the government is also taking care of the Rohingyas and they are getting all kinds of support including medical treatment, he added.

BNP ON ROHINGYAS

The BNP yesterday urged the government to stand beside the oppressed and displaced Rohingyas of Myanmar, reports our correspondent.

“Every day we see news that Rohingya people are being brutally tortured and burnt to death in Myanmar. Though Bangladesh’s 90 percent population is Muslims, its government is least bother about it,” senior leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said at a discussion at the party’s Nayapaltan central office in the capital.

‘I DON’T WANT TO DIE’

For heavily-pregnant Siru Bibu, who fled by boat with four children after her husband and other relatives were allegedly killed by an army operation, the situation that has greeted them was dire.

“If it goes another week, my children will starve,” said Siru at the unregistered Rohingya camp at Teknaf.

“Anyone trying to help us is warned or being arrested. As a result, the newly arrived refugees are living in fear,” a camp elder told AFP, requesting anonymity.

“Police have arrested some of our neighbours and we heard that they were sent back across the border,” Yasmin Akhter, a 25-year-old mother who was only able to bring two of her six children to Bangladesh.

“I hope they won’t do it to us… I don’t want to die.”

Set to run until Dec. 9, the festival is hosted by Singapore’s Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) and seeks to welcome 20,000 audience members from the media and content production community.

Highlighting “the best of Asian storytelling”, the festival features a market, conferences, screenings, awards and lab activities while underlining the theme of the “rapid convergence of media and technology in propelling the industry forward in an increasingly digitized world”.

According to its official website, last year the festival saw US$263.19 million in market transactions and displayed more than 1,050 hours of Asian content to international audiences.

Members of the Singapore Media Festival advisory board and industry members pose during the opening of the 2016 festival on Nov. 23.(Singapore Media Festival 2016/File)

“IMDA brings the science of info-communications and the art of media together to create new opportunities and possibilities that allow us to build toward a future for Singapore,” IMDA chief executive Gabriel Lim stated at the opening ceremony.

Among the events lined up for the festival are the Singapore International Film Festival, Asian Television Awards, Asia TV Forum & Market and ScreenSingapore.

The Rohingyas on seven small fishing boats tried to infiltrate early in the morning. They were pushed back by the coast guards patrolling the river, which separates Bangladesh’s southeastern border from western Myanmar.

Lt Nafiur Rahman, commander of Coast Guard Teknaf station, said the Rohingyas attempted to enter Bangladesh through Naya Para No 5 Sluice Gate point under Sabrang union of the upazila.

They included 36 children, 61 women and 28 men, he told some reporters in the afternoon.

“There were 125 Myanmar nationals in seven wooden boats. They included 61 women and 36 children. We resisted them from entering our water territory,” Nafiur told AFP.

All of the passengers were Rohingya who tried to enter Bangladesh amid an uptick of violent clashes in neighbouring Myanmar’s Rakhine state, he said.

The official added that to monitor the movement of the Rohingyas the patrol by coast guards along the river has been increased.

On November 15, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) stopped 86 Rohingyas on two boats from entering Bangladesh through Hnila and Sabrang in Teknaf. They were sent back, reports the Cox’s Bazar correspondent of The Daily Star.

A senior Bangladeshi official said its border guard force on Friday turned back 82 Rohingya Muslims, including women and children, attempting to leave Myanmar, reports Reuters.

Lt Col Anwarul Azim, commanding officer of BGB in the Cox’s Bazar sector, said those turned away had been provided with food and medicines.

SUU KYI CRITICISED

Rohingyas are trying to escape the military crackdown after a recent escalation in violence in Rakhine State, say residents, adding that some of them have been gunned down while attempting to cross the river that marks the frontier with Bangladesh.

According to the UN, up to 30,000 people have been displaced by violence, half of which occurred during the last week when dozens of people died in clashes with the military.

The resurgence of violence has deepened a crisis that has already threatened to derail the new administration led by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Information Taskforce on Rakhine, formed this week by the office of Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi has rejected the allegations against the military, known as the “Tatmadaw” in the Burmese language.

“Regarding those incidents, after asking the Tatmadaw and border guard troops in those regions, it is known that the information is absolutely not true,” said the State Counsellor Office Information Committee in a Facebook post.

The office added that the military and the border guard troops had not conducted operations near the border and were only engaged in an “area clearance operation” in the “inner part” of the state.

The UN envoy on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, criticised Suu Kyi’s handling of the crisis and renewed her appeal to investigate the allegations of abuses.

“State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has recently stated that the government is responding to the situation based on the principle of the rule of law. Yet I am unaware of any efforts on the part of the government to look into the allegations of human rights violations,” she said.

“It would appear, on the contrary, that the government has mostly responded with a blanket denial, she said, adding that security forces “must not be given carte blanche to step up their operations”.

Reuters reports that soldiers have poured into the north of Rakhine along Myanmar’s frontier with Bangladesh, responding to attacks by alleged Muslim militants on border posts on October 9.

They have locked down the district, where the vast majority of residents are Rohingya, shutting out aid workers and independent observers.

Sixty-nine suspected insurgents and 17 members of the security forces have been killed, according to official reports, since the violence began last month.

Residents and rights advocates have accused security forces of summary executions, rape and setting fire to homes. The government and army have rejected the accusations.

Up to 30,000 people are now estimated to be displaced and thousands more affected by the October 9 attacks and the following security operation, said Pierre Peron, the spokesman of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Myanmar.

“This includes as many as 15,000 people who, according to unverified information, may have been displaced after clashes between armed actors and the military on November 12-13,” said Peron.

He added that humanitarian operations that had been providing food, cash, and nutrition to more than 150,000 vulnerable people have been suspended for 40 days.

More than 3,000 children have not received their regular treatment for severe acute malnutrition (SAM).

“Without appropriate treatment and care, many children with SAM are at risk of dying,” said Peron.