Malaysia calls for proportionate burden and responsibility sharing to resolve Rohingya issue

malaymail 

Sunday, 15 Nov 2020 

 

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin addresses the sixth night session of the 37th Asean Summit and Related Summits held virtually, November 14, 2020. — Bernama pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 — Malaysia calls for proportionate burden and responsibility sharing as underscored in the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) to resolve the issue of the Rohingyas as its resources and capacities are already stretched, further compounded by Covid-19.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in his intervention at the 11th Asean-United Nations Summit today, said Malaysia can no longer take in more refugees as the spillover effects of the crisis in Rakhine state, Myanmar, continue to affect countries in the region, including Malaysia.

Anti-migrant sentiment fanned on Facebook in Malaysia

REUTERS

By Rozanna Latiff, A. Ananthalakshmi
October 14, 2020

 

 

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - As coronavirus infections surged in Malaysia this year, a wave of hate speech and misinformation aimed at Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar began appearing on Facebook.

FILE PHOTO: Rohingyas living in Malaysia protest against the treatment of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims near the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia September 8, 2017. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin/File Photo

Alarmed rights groups reported the material to Facebook.

But six months later, many posts targeting the Rohingya in Malaysia remain on the platform, including pages such as “Anti Rohingya Club” and “Foreigners Mar Malaysia’s Image”, although those two pages were removed after Reuters flagged them to Facebook recently.

Terror At Sea: Migrants Tell Of 200-Day Ordeal

THE ASEAN POST

13 September 2020 

This photo taken on 8 September, 2020 shows a group of Rohingya men sleeping on a pile of donated clothes at a transit camp on the beach in Lhokseumawe on the northern coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island. (AFP Photo)

When hundreds of Rohingya refugees paid traffickers to escape their squalid camp in Bangladesh, they were promised a new life in Malaysia after just one week at sea.

Instead, the group of mostly women and children suffered more than 200 days of terror on the high seas, until they landed this week on Indonesia's northern coast, where they are now back in refugee tents.

Rohingya refugees found alive on Malaysian islet after fears they had drowned

EXPRESS & STAR
Jul 27, 2020

There has been a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Burma amid a military crackdown.

 Rescued Rohingya refugees on a beach on Rebak Island off the resort island of Langkawi, Malaysia (Malaysian Maritime Enforcement/AP)

Malaysian authorities said they found 26 Rohingya Muslims, including women and children, hiding on a northern islet after they were initially feared drowned after jumping off a fishing boat.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency launched a search for the group after one Rohingya migrant found on the islet off the northern resort island of Langkawi told investigators that at least 24 other Rohingya were missing.

Two dozen Rohingya refugees die after jumping from boat near Thailand

MALAYSIA SUN
Voice of America
27 Jul 2020,

• Malaysian officials say 24 Rohingya migrants are feared drowned off a Malaysian resort island near Thailand.
• Malaysian authorities launched a search and rescue operation on Sunday for the Rohingya refugees who went missing after jumping into the water from a boat and attempting to swim to the ...
• Malaysia's coastguard said 25 people had tried to swim to shore late Saturday, but only one of them, identified as Nor Hossain, 27, made it to the island.

Malaysia finds Rohingya feared drowned hiding on island

Aljazeera
27th July 2020

Malaysia has stepped up patrols around its maritime borders as Rohingya attempt to reach the country by boat.

Malaysia has stepped up patrols in waters near Langkawi island since the start of the coronavirus pandemic [File: Olivia Harris/Reuters]

Twenty-six Rohingya refugees, who had been feared drowned while trying to swim ashore close to the Malaysian resort island of Langkawi, have been found alive, hiding in the vegetation on a nearby islet, a senior coastguard official said on Monday.

Malaysia does not recognise refugee status, but the country is a common destination for the mostly Muslim Rohingya, hundreds of thousands of whom live in densely populated camps in Bangladesh after escaping a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.

Malaysia: Stop Treating Rohingya Refugees as Criminals

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

July 22, 2020

Jailing, Caning Refugees Violates International Law 

A boat carries Rohingya refugees off the coast of Langkawi, Malaysia, April 5, 2020. Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency handout via AP

(Bangkok) – Malaysian authorities should stop prosecuting Rohingya refugees for illegal entry and ensure that they are protected in accordance with international law, Human Rights Watch said today.

At least 40 ethnic Rohingya who were picked up from a boat that arrived in Malaysian waters more than three months ago have been sentenced to seven months in prison. Fourteen children from the boat were sent to “shelters” and may also face criminal charges. Twenty-seven of the thirty-one men convicted also face three strokes of the cane – a brutal punishment that constitutes torture under international human rights law. A court will hear their application to set aside the caning sentence on July 22.

Welfare Dept unable to locate Rohingya girl and family

THE Star ONLINE

N. TRISHA
Tuesday, 21 Jul 2020

GEORGE TOWN: A Rohingya girl who nearly became a child bride before authorities intervened last year has disappeared from the Penang Social Welfare Department’s radar.

Department deputy director R. Chitarthany believed the girl and her family moved to Alor Setar, Kedah, last year.

“When we last visited the family on April 4 last year, we could not find them. They are said to have moved to Alor Setar.

“The case worker who made the visit said he was told by neighbours that the family had moved but did not leave their new address.

Malaysia: Stop plans to cane Rohingya refugees and release those already imprisoned

 

20 July 2020,

Asia and The Pacific  Refugees 

 

The Malaysian authorities must immediately abandon plans to whip at least 20 Rohingya men who are being punished simply for trying to seek safety. The government should release all other jailed Rohingya refugees – including women and children – who have been unlawfully singled out, convicted and imprisoned for alleged “immigration offences,” which are contrary to international law, Amnesty International said today.

Refugees: Humanity approach is most appropriate way

NEW

STRAITSTIMES

July 14, 2020

File Photo: In this picture taken on May 2, 2020, Rohingya refugees stranded at sea are seen on a boat near the coast of Cox's Bazar. - Dozens of Rohingya refugees believed to have come from two boats stranded at sea for weeks as they tried to reach Malaysia landed on the Bangladesh coast on May 2, Rohingya community leaders said. (Photo by STR / AFP) 

Letters: Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's statement that Malaysia will not send refugees who come by boats back to the sea is most welcome.

Applying a humanitarian approach is appropriate while seeking for a better solution depending on the situation.

Malaysia needs to act with caution so as not to be seen as violating international law, what more as an Islamic country that should act in accordance with Islamic principles.

Dozens of Rohingyas believed to have died in voyage to Malaysia

NEWAGE
Agence France-Presse . Kuala Lumpur |
Jun 24,2020

A vessel carries a group of Rohingya people some eight kilometres offshore in the Malacca strait between Indonesia and neighbouring Malaysia. The Indonesian Navy releases the picture on Wednesday. — AFP photo

Dozens of Rohingya are believed to have died during a four-month boat journey to Malaysia, a coastguard official said Wednesday.

There had been more than 300 people on board the boat which was intercepted by authorities earlier this month, said Zubil Mat Som, director-general of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.

The 269 survivors were taken to Langkawi island.

Rohingya say dozens perished in months-long voyage to Malaysia

Aljazeera

24 Jun 2020

 

Survivors from boat crammed with 300 refugees say bodies were thrown in the sea during the tortuous four-month voyage.

Rohingya refugees intercepted by the MMEA off Langkawi island being handed over to immigration authorities [File: Reuters]

Survivors from a boat crammed with more than 300 Rohingya refugees have recounted to Malaysian authorities how dozens had perished during a tortuous four-month voyage and their bodies thrown in the sea.

The head of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) described the ordeal suffered by Rohingya whose damaged boat had made land on the Malaysian island of Langkawi on June 8, with 269 people on board.

Malaysia: Threat to force 269 Rohingya boat people back to sea is a 'new low'

Amnesty International UK 
Press releases
19 Jun 2020

Security sources told journalists that Malaysian authorities were planning to send back the 269 Rohingya people who had landed at Langkawi (library picture) © Andrew Stanbridge / Amnesty International

Vessel landed at Langkawi island on 8 June, with woman’s dead body and many survivors barely able to walk

Coastguard says it has pushed other boats back out to sea

‘This is an unprecedented and dangerous situation. It will not be accepted by the international community’ - Anna Shea

Responding to reports that the Malaysian authorities are planning to force 269 Rohingya people back into exile on dangerous open waters after they landed on the island of Langkawi earlier this month, Anna Shea, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Refugee and Migrant Rights, said:

Malaysia Could Send Rohingya Detainees Back Out to Sea: Sources

Continue reading the main story

The New York Times

By Reuters 

June 18, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR/BANGKOK — Malaysia is considering a plan to send nearly 300 Rohingya Muslim refugees detained after arriving on a damaged boat back out to sea once the ship has been fixed, two security sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Muslim-majority Malaysia has been a favoured destination for ethnic Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar and more recently, refugee camps in Bangladesh, in search of better prospects.

But Malaysia has said it will no longer accept Rohingya refugees after tightening border controls to rein in the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Malaysia Is Planning to Send a Boat Full of Rohingya Refugees Back Out to Sea

VICE
by Sammy Westfall
Jun 19 2020,

"Sending them back out to sea is just throwing them into a killing field."

A Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh. Photo courtesy of UK DFID.

Once their damaged boat is fixed, 269 Rohingya refugees now docked in Malaysia will be sent back out to sea if officials follow through with their current plan, sparking an outcry from rights groups.

Reuters, citing two security sources, reported on Thursday that Malaysia had previously asked Bangladesh to take back the refugees, who have been detained since their June 8 arrival, but Bangladeshi officials rejected the request. The sources said authorities have drawn up plans to push the refugees back out with food and water, but “no decision has been made yet.”

Rohingya boat people being held for ransom at sea

Reuters
June 15, 2020

Malaysia has said it will not accept Rohingya refugees after tightening its borders due to Covid-19. (MMEA pic)

DHAKA: Rohingya refugees attempting to reach Malaysia by boat from Bangladesh are being held hostage by human traffickers who have demanded large ransoms from their relatives with threats of violence, according to several families and aid organisations.

About a dozen Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh told Thomson Reuters Foundation they had received phone calls from traffickers demanding money to stop relatives from being abandoned at sea and, in some cases, raped or killed.

‘No’ to any more Rohingyas

Daily Express

June 10, 2020
By: FMT

Pic (Bernama) for illustration only.

PUTRAJAYA: The government said Tuesday it will not allow Rohingya refugees, especially those who fled from Cox Bazar, to remain in the country.Cox Bazar is a refugee settlement in the southeast coast of Bangladesh. In questioning some of the tactics used by the refugees, senior minister for security Ismail Sabri Yaakob said it “made it difficult” for Malaysian authorities.

Bangladesh says will not take Rohingya refugees detained in Malaysia

malaymail
Wednesday, 10 Jun 2020

Malaysia on Monday detained 269 Rohingya refugees and found a dead body on a damaged boat off the resort island of Langkawi. — Reuters pic

DHAKA, June 10 — Bangladesh said Tuesday it would refuse to take back 269 Rohingya refugees detained by the Malaysian coastguard while they were adrift on a damaged boat.

“Bangladesh will not take them. Bangladesh is neither obligated nor in a position to take any more Rohingya,” Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told Anadolu Agency.

Malaysia on Monday detained 269 Rohingya refugees and found a dead body on a damaged boat off the resort island of Langkawi.

Malaysia to ask Bangladesh to take back Rohingya refugees found at sea

REUTERS
9th June 2020

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia will ask Bangladesh to take back about 300 Rohingya refugees detained after a boat carrying them entered its waters this week, the southeast Asian nation’s defence minister said on Tuesday.

Malaysia does not recognise refugee status but has been a favoured destination for ethnic Rohingya, most of them Muslims, who fled a 2017 military-led crackdown in Myanmar, and more recently, squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Malaysia detains 270 Rohingya refugees who had drifted at sea for weeks

B B C
9th June 2020

File photo of Rohingya refugees arriving in in Malaysian waters

Malaysia has detained nearly 270 Rohingya refugees whose boat had drifted offshore for nearly two months because of coronavirus lockdowns.

They fled southern Bangladesh in early April but had been unable to dock.

Dozens of those aboard jumped into the sea and tried to swim to land when their damaged trawler was intercepted by the Malaysian coastguard on Monday.