Malaysia's government on Saturday defended plans for a protest rally to condemn what it called "ethnic cleansing" of Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority, saying it has an obligation to ensure that its neighbor takes steps to prevent the crisis from deteriorating.

Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to attend the rally at a Kuala Lumpur stadium on Sunday.

Myanmar has warned Muslim-majority Malaysia not to interfere in its internal affairs.

In a strongly worded statement, Malaysia's Foreign Ministry said the high number of Rohingya refugees in the country and other neighboring nations has made the crisis "no longer an internal matter but an international matter."

"The fact that only one particular ethnicity is being driven out is by definition ethnic cleansing. This practice must stop, and must be stopped immediately in order to bring back security and stability to the Southeast Asian region," it said.

Source: MENA