Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has reached out to Australia and her fellow ASEAN leaders for help in dealing with the Rohingya refugee crisis.
Ms Suu Kyi has faced international condemnation over her muted response to atrocities against Rohingya people in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state, from where 700,000 people have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh following a military crackdown.
Now the Nobel Peace Prize winner has turned to leaders from ASEAN's nine other member countries for help during talks at a special summit hosted in Sydney by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this weekend.
"She seeks support from ASEAN and other nations to provide help from a humanitarian and capacity-building point of view," Mr Turnbull told reporters after the three-day summit wrapped up on Sunday.
"Everyone seeks to end the suffering.
"Our goal is to support a peaceful and speedy resolution of the humanitarian disaster that has resulted from the conflict."
ASEAN chair, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said all member countries would do their best to help the Myanmar government re-establish stability.
"And yet ASEAN is not able to intervene and to force an outcome," he said.
"But we are working together in consultation with Myanmar to provide humanitarian assistance so that the affected communities can rebuild their lives."
The calls for help from Myanmar come after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak warned that thousands of desperate Rohingya people could easily be potential recruits for Islamic State.
Mr Lee said while he didn't have specific intelligence supporting Mr Najib's fears, "these are possibilities which you cannot rule out".
Mr Najib's comments on the Rohingya crisis marked a departure from ASEAN's usual protocols that ensure leaders don't raise concerns about controversial domestic issues in member countries.
In a joint statement released at the end of the summit, there was no specific mention of the Rohingya people, but the leaders said they had renewed their resolve to promote and protect the human rights of their people.
They also reaffirmed their "mutual respect" for non-interference and political independence of all nations.
The Rohingya crisis is expected to come up again during bilateral talks Mr Turnbull is due to hold with Ms Suu Kyi in Canberra on Monday.
The United Nations has dubbed the violence against the Rohingya people by Myanmar's military as a textbook case of "ethnic cleansing" and warned their actions could amount to genocide.
Ms Suu Kyi has not denounced military action or addressed genocide claims.
Myanmar is a majority Buddhist country and Rohingya Muslims face discrimination and are denied citizenship.
Australian Associated Press
