BAKU, Oct 24 — Malaysia, concerned with the Rohingya people situation, believes repatriation should begin immediately in order to resolve the crisis.
Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said Myanmar, however, was unable to do this due to the reluctance of refugees to participate in the process.
“Key to resolving the issue is to ensure that they return in a voluntary, safe and dignified manner,” he said in his remarks at the Preparatory Meeting of the 18th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit here.
Saifuddin said Rohingyas must also be consulted on their possible return and must be assured of their safety back in the Rakhine state.
“If not, how could they ever return while fearing for safety back in the Rakhine state,” said Saifuddin, who reiterated Malaysia’s stand that perpetrators of the crimes committed in the past must also be held accountable for their actions.
Saifuddin said he hoped that Myanmar, a friend of Malaysia and fellow NAM member and close partner in Asean, would join the rest in respecting and adhering to the Bandung principles and international law and humanitarian and human rights law.
According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed in August an agreement to facilitate the repatriation of Rohingya refugees over the next two years, but two planned repatriation arrangements came to halt after refugees were unwilling to return to Myanmar, citing security issues in the Rakhine State.
Malaysia has been one of the key nations in championing Rohingya refugees’ right.
Apart from rendering humanitarian assistance, Malaysia is operating a field hospital in Cox’s Bazar, besides hosting close to 100,000 registered Rohingya refugees, with many more unregistered.
During a high-level event on the ‘Rohingya Crisis – A Way Forward’ at the UN headquarters in New York last month, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has sounded the clarion call for the international community to put the Rohingya crisis squarely on its radar with a view to resolving it now. — Bernama
