Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has been commended for allowing a strong statement by the government against the alleged ethnic cleansing of Rohingya in Myanmar.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said it would have been easier for Malaysia, as a regional partner to Myanmar, to keep quiet about the plight of the Rohingya.

"In the face of diplomatic, economic, and friendship consideration, not against an enemy like Israel but a partner in the region, where it would have been easier to sit down and shut up, it takes courage to speak against atrocities and speak for humanity," Khairy said in his special address at the 2016 Kuala Lumpur International Youth Discourse held at PWTC today.

Wisma Putra had yesterday issued a statement where it condemned the escalation of violence in the Rakhine state of Myanmar and said it would summon the Myanmar ambassador to convey Malaysia's concern over this issue.

It also said Malaysia's Foreign Affairs Minister Anifah Aman would meet Myanmar's Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kit as soon as possible.

Khairy said the statement from Wisma Putra was indeed a very strong statement as it was a statement of condemnation.

That statement came very close to breaching the Asean policy of non-interference, he added.

"But we decided to do it because in the words of our prime minister yesterday in the cabinet meeting, the Asean way and the policy of non-interference in each other' affairs cannot be higher than preventing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Myanmar," he said during the question-and-answer session.

He said he would also help the Rohingya youth community in Malaysia to expand their network and develop close ties with the Malaysian youth council.

This is so that Rohingya youth will at least have a platform and friends in Malaysia who can help them articulate and advocate for peace in their homeland, he said.

Thousands of ethnic Rohingya demonstrated outside the Myanmar embassy yesterday to protest the killing of their kin in Rakhine state.

However, Amanah international bureau chairperson Raja Bahrin Shah criticised the government for seeming apathetic and without a clear stand on the plight of the Rohingya.

"The suggestion to withdraw from the football tournament (co-hosted) by Myanmar was also rejected by the Malaysian government.

"That's how weak our stand is," Raja Bahrin said in a statement today.

He pointed out that when the Malaysian football team qualified for the Moscow Olympics in 1980, they pulled out as a form of protest against the Russian invasion in Afghanistan.

That was how strong Malaysia's principles was back then, he said.

He also urged the Malaysian football players to at least wear a red armband during their match against Myanmar, to signify the Rohingya blood spilled by soldiers.

"Can our football players, with the blessing of the Malaysian government, shake hands on the football field with citizens of a country who have spilled so much blood of Muslims in Myanmar," he said.