South-East Asian migrant crisis: Malaysia, Indonesia to scrap policy of turning away asylum seeker boats

Updated

Malaysia and Indonesia say they will no longer turn away migrant boats, responding to world pressure by offering to take in a wave of asylum seekers provided they can be resettled or repatriated within a year.

The nations have sparked outrage by preventing vessels overloaded with starving migrants from Bangladesh and from Myanmar's ethnic Rohingya minority from landing on their shores.

"The towing and the shooing [away of boats] is not going to happen," Malaysian foreign minister Anifah Aman said at a joint press conference with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi after talks on the issue.

"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."

The talks in Malaysia had also included Thai foreign minister Tanasak Patimapragorn but he was not present for the press conference.

Their meeting comes as about 400 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants were rescued from their wooden vessels off Indonesia's Aceh province, officials said.

One of the boats found by Indonesian fishermen was a vessel that went missing more than three days ago after being spotted off Thailand, AFP journalists said.

Hundreds of men, women and children were found pleading for help on the drifting trawler after Thai authorities turned the boat away from Thai waters last week.

Fears had been growing for those on board after contact was lost with the vessel late on Saturday.

Chris Lewa, from the Arakan Project, which monitors migrant journeys across the Bay of Bengal, said her group had also confirmed the same boat landed in Aceh.

Myanmar says it stands 'ready to provide assistance'

International migration observers estimate there are thousands of people at sea in South-East Asia attempting to flee persecution or poverty, including at least 2,000 people trapped for more than 40 days on boats off Myanmar without food or water.

Myanmar, the source of many of the asylum seekers, reportedly refused to attend Wednesday's meeting.

However, the country said it was "ready to provide humanitarian assistance" to boat people, in its most conciliatory comments yet.

Nearly 3,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants have made it to shore in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia in recent days after a Thai crackdown disrupted people-trafficking routes, prompting operators of rickety boats to dump their human cargo.

But those countries have also rejected boats trying to enter their territory and vowed not to allow any more in, resulting in what the United Nations has called "maritime ping-pong", as boats go from one country to another.

The region has faced criticism for its timid diplomacy, particularly its failure to curb what is seen as Buddhist-majority Myanmar's systematic abuse of its unwanted Rohingya people, which has sent masses of the Muslim ethnic minority fleeing abroad.

Myanmar insists the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh for whom it is not responsible.

Myanmar has acknowledged international "concerns" about the boat people but denied it was solely to blame.

Meanwhile, the Philippines said it was ready to help the boat people, offering hopes of a potential solution as its neighbours pushed the migrants away.

The Philippines' foreign affairs department spokesman Charles Jose said Manila was obliged to help the migrants, many of whom were fleeing persecution, because it was party to the UN refugee convention.

The government did not elaborate on what help might be extended.

An estimated 25,000 Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar boarded smugglers' boats in the first three months of this year, twice as many as in the same period of 2014, the UN refugee agency has said.





AFP/Reuters

Topics: immigration, government-and-politics, malaysia, indonesia, thailand, myanmar, asia, philippines

First posted