Cops to find temporary site for rescued boat people
KUALA LUMPUR ― The police will identify places to temporarily house some of the 7,000 refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh currently stranded at sea.
KUALA LUMPUR ― The police will identify places to temporarily house some of the 7,000 refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh currently stranded at sea.
The Star daily reported Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar as saying that his men will work with the other agencies to look for suitable locations for the migrants.
“Since the government has agreed to temporarily house these people, we will sit down with representatives from the other agencies and see where best to house them,” he was quoted telling reporters in Seremban yesterday (May 21).
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Najib Razak ordered the navy to rescue thousands of migrants adrift at sea, and a Thai official said Myanmar had agreed to attend an emergency conference on the crisis.
Diplomats said Myanmar had up to now resisted calls for it to take part in meetings on the stranded “boat people”, many of them Rohingya Muslims who have long complained of discrimination in Myanmar.
The apparent shift in its position came after Malaysia and Indonesia's foreign ministers held talks with senior officials in Myanmar the same day.
The crisis has seen thousands of migrants fleeing persecution and poverty at home being pushed back out to sea by Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Aid groups said many of them are facing sickness, and possible starvation. THE MALAY MAIL ONLINE