Bangladesh minister rejects Malaysia’s plan to deport rescued Rohingya refugees

Bangladesh’s foreign minister has rejected Malaysia’s plan to deport close to 270 Rohingya refugees recently caught off the coast of Langkawi to Bangladesh.

According to news portal BenarNews, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said the refugees should instead be sent to Myanmar.

“The Rohingya are citizens of Myanmar and Malaysia should send them to Myanmar instead of Bangladesh. Otherwise, they (Malaysia) can keep the Rohingya in their own country.

“We will take in no more Rohingya,” he was reported to have said.

Abdul Momen was also reported to have said Malaysian authorities had not yet contacted his government over the matter.

The Rohingya are a Muslim-minority group in Myanmar. However, hundreds of thousands have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh and across the seas to other countries to escape alleged religious persecution by Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

The latter has denied the claims and does not recognise the Rohingya as citizens.

The minister’s statement comes after Malaysia rescued and detained 269 refugees, including the elderly and children, on Monday as a boat ferrying them attempted to enter Malaysian waters.

Authorities claimed the boat was deliberately damaged to thwart attempts at being chased away.

Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said yesterday that Malaysia will not keep the refugees here.

Instead, he said the Foreign Affairs Ministry is to discuss with the Bangladesh government for the group to be sent back there if they had come from Cox’s Bazar or be placed on Bhashan (Char) island, the new settlement for Rohingya refugees.

Ismail, who is also the senior minister in charge of security, added that Wisma Putra would also discuss with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to send the group to a “third country”.

Malaysia is not a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention. - Mkini