The recent move by Malaysian maritime authorities to turn away Rohingya refugees seeking shelter has been rapped as ‘inhuman and atrocious’.

DAP Klang MP Charles Santiago today said as a whole, the ASEAN regions’ treatment of Rohingya refugees leave much to be desired.

“ASEAN shamelessly calls itself a people-centred bloc, and goes on to self-style the ten nation states as a caring and sharing group. Yet all we have now are thousands of people stranded at sea. Rohingya women, men and children who are starving and diseased are at the mercy of the Malaysian, Thailand and Indonesian navy,” he said in a statement.

He was responding to the news that the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency will be shutting our doors to refugees, as Malaysia does not recognise refugee and classifies them as illegal immigrants. This follows a report that some 1,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi who arrived on our shores earlier this week seeking refuge are now being detained in Langkawi.

Charles Santiago

“Hundreds more are at detention centers, their fate unknown. I have been made to understand that the media have not been given access to them either. Thailand has indicated it will provide shelter to the fleeing refugees but Malaysia and Indonesia, in sharp contrast, have said they will send the boats back,” Santiago said.

“This is simply inhumane and atrocious. NGOs monitoring the Rohingya boat people say close to 8000 more are still drifting in sea,” he added.

The Rohingya are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, having faced decades of state-sanctioned discrimination from a Buddhist-majority Burma.

Earlier today, Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Jaafar even suggested a ‘wall’ be built on the Thai-Malaysia border to prevent ‘illegals’ from getting in.

Santiago said ASEAN is already lagging behind in human rights, and that the heads of states should have ironed out the thorny issue of the mass exodus of the Rohingya, which escalated further in June 2012 following state-sponsored violence, at the recently-concluded ASEAN summit earlier this month.

“They failed to discuss about this crucial issue as it would entail looking at Burma’s gross human rights violations against the Rohingya. Malaysia, after being instrumental in bringing Burma into the ASEAN fold, now says it will send the thousands of Rohingya back as they are illegal immigrants,” he said.

He called on Malaysia as chair of ASEAN this year to protect the Rohingya as opposed to sending tham back to Burma to face death and persecution.

– The Rocket