INDONESIA, MALAYSIA, THAILAND DISCUSSED BOAT PEOPLE THIS MORNING

Kuala Lumpur, 2 Shaban 1436/20 May 2015 (MINA) – Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, Retno Marsudi and Thai Foreign Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn will meet this morning near Kuala Lumpur starting at 9 am.

Malaysia will be the host of the meeting. They are going to discuss the crisis of the boat people of Southeast Asia.

Nearly 3,000 people were rescued by Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand in recent weeks. Antara quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reported.

Not only Thailand, Myanmar also criticized by international community due to the mistreated Rohingya Muslims and deliberately encouraged large-scale migration to abroad.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) received reports that at least 2,000 migrants stranded in five ships controlled by human smugglers near the coast of Myanmar-Bangladesh for more than 40 days.

This human smugglers charming people in the ships and to be released if they are paid, said a spokesman for the UNHCR.

UNHCR urged Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand to launch search and rescue operations to force the ships anchored and implement procedures to respond to any refugee claims.

Last week UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the US State Department called for joint action to help the boat people. (L/P008/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)