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Malaysia to build S$1.12 million hospital for Rohingya in Bangladesh

COX’S BAZAR (BANGLADESH) — In what may be Putrajaya’s most direct intervention into an international humanitarian crisis, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Malaysia will build a RM3.5 million (S$1.12 million) field hospital at a refugee camp in Bangladesh housing Rohingya refugees.

Rohingya refugees walk through a shallow canal after crossing the Naf River as they flee violence in Myanmar to reach Bangladesh.  Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said his country will build a RM3.5 million (S$1.12 million) field hospital at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. Photo: AFP

Rohingya refugees walk through a shallow canal after crossing the Naf River as they flee violence in Myanmar to reach Bangladesh. Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said his country will build a RM3.5 million (S$1.12 million) field hospital at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. Photo: AFP

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COX’S BAZAR (BANGLADESH) — In what may be Putrajaya’s most direct intervention into an international humanitarian crisis, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Malaysia will build a RM3.5 million (S$1.12 million) field hospital at a refugee camp in Bangladesh housing Rohingya refugees.

After visiting the Kutupalong Camp near Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh on Monday (Oct 16), Mr Zahid said the 50-bed hospital will be built within a month pending approval from Dhaka.

“It will be built by the (Malaysian) Armed Forces military corps and the Health Ministry,” national news agency Bernama quoted him as saying.

Malaysia has previously pledged to give RM10 million to assist in humanitarian aid and social rehabilitation projects in Rakhine state, where most of the Rohingya live.

Last month, Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said his country had also dispatched humanitarian aid to Bangladesh and would continue to send more aid for the Rohingya.

More than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since Aug 25, when Myanmar security forces clamped down after new attacks on police posts by a Rohingya militant group.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands of homes burned in what many Rohingya have described as a systematic effort by Myanmar’s military to drive them out.

The government has blamed the Rohingya, saying they set fire to their own homes, but the United Nations and others accuse the country of ethnic cleansing.

Many new Rohingya refugees are still crossing the border into Bangladesh on Monday (Oct 16), wading through waist-deep water with children strapped to their sides as they walked through bushes and forded monsoon-swollen streams for days.

The influx will worsen the unprecedented humanitarian emergency unfolding in Cox’s Bazar, where aid workers are battling to provide refugees with food, clean water and shelter.

Malaysia has adopted a tough stance on the violence inflicted on the Rohingya.

Prime Minister Najib Razak had previously spoken out about the need to address the issue effectively. He had also raised the matter with United States President Donald Trump during his recent trip to the White House.

Mr Zahid, meanwhile, had criticised Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s handling of the crisis.

Besides the Rohinya issue, Malaysia has also participated in other humanitarian assistance programmes including in Palestine, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq and Syria.

It provided economic, political and humanitarian aid for Bosnia, while the Balkan state reeled from the trauma of conflict and ethnic cleansing in the 1992 to 1995 civil war. Malaysia also took in some Bosnian refugees.

In 2010, Malaysia sent a team of 40 military personnel to Afghanistan for the first time to provide medical and humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged country.

In March this year, Malaysia pledged US$1 million (S$1.35 million) for humanitarian assistance to Iraq and Syria after pockets of areas were liberated from Islamic State militants following continuous bombardment by the American-led coalition forces. AGENCIES

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