Amid growing pressure from the international community, Malaysia and Indonesia have finally decided to give temporary shelter to around 7,000 people drifting in the sea.
The decision came hours after at least 433 starving Rohingya and Bangladeshi boatpeople were rescued off Indonesia early Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Myanmar for the first time offered to help ease a regional migrant crisis blamed in part on its treatment of the ethnic Rohingya minority, and said it would join the meeting on “irregular migration” in Bangkok on May 29.
The developments follow urgent appeals from UN Chief Ban Ki-moon, global rights bodies and the US last week to rescue and give shelter to Rohingya and Bangladeshi boatpeople.
Nearly 3,000 Rohingyas and Bangladeshis were either rescued or they swam to the shores of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in recent weeks.
However, many boats crammed with people were turned away, drawing huge criticism from the international community.
The boats, destined for Thailand and Malaysia, were abandoned by the human traffickers following Thailand’s crackdown since early this month.
The country launched the crackdown after mass graves were discovered in its coastal jungles where traffickers held many migrants hostage for ransom.
The first batch of 102 migrants was brought to shore in East Aceh of Indonesia around 2:00am and then taken to a village, Khairul Nova, an official of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, told AFP.
The second batch was found in a boat about 65 kilometres off the coast and were brought to a port in the Julok area of East Aceh district a few hours later, said Indonesian official Sadikin.
“They found the boat bobbing about, the engine was dead, the fishermen felt pity for them,” he told AFP.
“Some looked very sick and weak, some looked dehydrated, there seems to be a lack of water and food at sea,” he said.
“We are giving first aid to these people, we are feeding them, giving them water and providing a comfortable place for them,” said Sadikin.
Teuku Nyak Idrus, a local fisherman involved in the rescue, said, “Many are sick, they told me that some of their friends died from starvation.”
Those saved in the Malacca Strait between Malaysia and Indonesia’s huge Sumatra island included 30 children and 26 women, he added.
Sirajul Islam, a Rohingya Muslim who was among the “migrants” brought to shore in Aceh province yesterday, said their ship’s engine broke down in the Thai waters off Koh Lipe on May 14. The Thai navy repaired the engine and provided food and drinks, reports AP.
The navy then pushed the boat away “within 10 minutes, otherwise they would shoot our ship,” he said.
TRIPARTITE MEETING
After holding talks with his Indonesian and Thai counterparts in Putrajaya, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said Malaysia and Indonesia would no longer turn away migrant vessels.
They would take in the boatpeople provided that they could be resettled or repatriated within a year, he said.
“The towing and the shooing [away of boats] are not going to happen,” Aman said at a joint press conference with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi after the talks.
“We also agreed to offer them temporary shelter provided that the resettlement and repatriation process will be done in one year by the international community,” he said.
The offer of shelter was applicable only to those people now on the seas, said Aman.
The meeting was also attended by Thai Foreign Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn but he was not present at the press conference.
Aman said the Thai side refrained from joining in the offer, saying it had to first refer back to whether the move would be allowed by “domestic laws” in Thailand.
However, BBC reported that though Thailand earlier didn’t join its neighbours in their commitment to shelter the migrants, the country later said it too would not push back boats stranded in its territorial waters.
And the country will continue to provide humanitarian assistance.
Newsworldbd.com/
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