SOLYMONE BLOG: MALAYSIA REJECTS ANY MORE MIGRANTS AS CRISIS WORSEN

MALAYSIA REJECTS ANY MORE MIGRANTS AS CRISIS WORSEN

Malaysia has continued to reject taking in more migrants stranded on boats off Southeast Asia's shores, despite growing international pressure.

The Southeast Asian nation is in high-level talks with its neighbours to try to solve the refugee crisis after boats

holding more than 2,000 migrants, including many Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis, landed in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in recent weeks.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman met on Sunday with his counterpart from Bangladesh, Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, ahead of a

meeting with the Indonesian and Thai foreign ministers scheduled for Wednesday, officials said.

Thailand and Indonesia have also refused to allow the migrants - most of whom are ethnic Rohingya Muslims facing persecution in Myanmar - to enter their waters.

Al Jazeera spoke to stranded migrants in waters off Thailand. One of the migrants said that "people were starving and suffering from diarrhoea and were dying because they did not have food to eat or clean water".

Many aboard said they wanted to go to Malaysia where their family members were.
Aid groups estimate that thousands more are stranded at sea after a crackdown on human traffickers prompted captains and smugglers to abandon their human cargo.
There appears to be no quick solution to the crisis, especially since Myanmar appears unwilling to engage in discussions and refuses to accept
any responsibility over the migrant
crisis.

Source: Al Jazeera...More...