PUTRAJAYA: The government said today it will not allow Rohingya
refugees, especially those who fled from Cox Bazar, to remain in the
country.
Cox Bazar is a refugee settlement in the southeast coast of Bangladesh.
In questioning some of the tactics used by the refugees, senior
minister for security Ismail Sabri Yaakob said it “made it difficult”
for Malaysian authorities.
Ismail said the foreign ministry had been asked to discuss
with Bangladesh the possibility of deporting the refugees to either Cox
Bazar or Bhasan Char Island in the Gulf of Bengal.
He also said the foreign ministry would discuss with the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to have them sent to a
third country.
He said several countries had questioned Malaysia’s management of the
Rohingya refugees, with some accusing Putrajaya of being inhumane.
So, he said, the government will ask the foreign ministry to discuss
with these countries to take in the Rohingya refugees instead.
Saying many countries were signatories to the 1951 Refugee
Convention, he asked: “Why do they leave it to us? They should welcome
the Rohingya refugees.
“We are firm in this matter. We can’t welcome any more Rohingya
refugees and we would feel better if the third countries, who are
signatories to the convention, accept these refugees from Malaysia,” he
said at his daily press conference.
He said if these counties were to welcome the Rohingya, many issues would be resolved.
Ismail also said the Rohingya refugees should not assume they would be welcomed should they enter the country after this.
“We will deport them to Cox Bazar or another settlement set up by the Bangladesh government,” he said.
Ismail said the tactics employed by the refugees who entered the country put authorities in a tight spot.
Some, he said, would make holes in their boat so it would fill with
water or enter the country’s waters with a damaged boat. There were also
those who would jump off their boat once they were in the country’s
waters.
This, he said, left the authorities with little choice. “We either
leave them to die at sea or save them on humanitarian grounds.
“Don’t tell me we want to see children and the elderly drown in the
middle of the ocean in front of us without us doing anything,” he said.
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