Malaysia and Indonesia agree to give temporary shelter to 7,000 migrants drifting at sea

Amid growing pressure from the international community, Malaysia and Indonesia have finally decided to give temporary shelter to around 7,000 people drifting in the sea.

The decision came hours after at least 433 starving Rohingya and Bangladeshi boatpeople were rescued off Indonesia early yesterday.  

Meanwhile, Myanmar for the first time has offered to help ease a regional migrant crisis blamed in part on its treatment of the ethnic Rohingya minority, and said it would join the meeting on “irregular migration” in Bangkok on May 29.

The developments follow urgent appeals from UN Chief Ban Ki-moon, global rights bodies and the US last week to rescue and give shelter to Rohingya and Bangladeshi boatpeople.

Nearly 3,000 Rohingyas and Bangladeshis were either rescued or they swam to the shores of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in recent weeks. 

However, many boats crammed with people were turned away, drawing huge criticism from the international community. 

The boats, destined for Thailand and Malaysia, were abandoned by the human traffickers following Thailand's crackdown on them since early this month. 

The country launched the crackdown after mass graves were discovered in its coastal jungles where traffickers held many migrants hostage for ransom.  

YESTERDAY'S RESCUES
The first batch of 102 migrants was brought to shore in East Aceh of Indonesia around 2:00am local time and then taken to a village, Khairul Nova, an official of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, told AFP.

The second batch was found in a boat about 65 kilometres off the coast and were brought to a port in the Julok area of East Aceh district a few hours later, said Indonesian official Sadikin.

"They found the boat bobbing about, the engine was dead, the fishermen felt pity for them," he told AFP.

"Some looked very sick and weak, some looked dehydrated, there seems to be a lack of water and food at sea," he said.

"We are giving first aid to these people, we are feeding them, giving them water and providing a comfortable place for them," said Sadikin. 

Teuku Nyak Idrus, a local fisherman involved in the rescue, said, “Many are sick, they told me that some of their friends died from starvation."

Those saved in the Malacca Strait between Malaysia and Indonesia's huge Sumatra island included 30 children and 26 women, he added.

Sirajul Islam, a Rohingya Muslim who was among the migrants brought to shore in Aceh province yesterday, said their ship's engine broke down in the Thai waters off Koh Lipe on May 14. The Thai navy repaired the engine and provided food and drinks, reports AP. 

The navy then pushed the boat away "within 10 minutes, otherwise they would shoot our ship," he said.

TRIPARTITE MEETING
After holding talks with his Indonesian and Thai counterparts in Putrajaya, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said Malaysia and Indonesia would no longer turn away migrant vessels. 

They would take in the boatpeople provided that they could be resettled or repatriated within a year, he said.

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

"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," he said.

The offer of shelter is applicable only to those now on the seas, he added.

Aman and Marsudi recommended convening an emergency meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which Malaysia currently chairs. Myanmar is also a member.

Meantime, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the announcement from the two Southeast Asian countries was "an important initial step in the search for solutions to this issue, and vital for the purpose of saving lives".

In a statement, it called for migrants to be brought ashore "without delay" and for countries in the region to address the "root causes" of the large-scale migration.

Yesterday's tripartite meeting was also attended by Thai Foreign Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn but he was not present at the press conference.

Aman said the Thai side refrained from joining in the offer, saying it had to first refer back to whether the move would be allowed by "domestic laws" in Thailand.

However, BBC reported that though Thailand earlier didn't join its neighbours in their commitment to shelter the migrants, the country later said it too would not push back boats stranded in its territorial waters. 

And the country will continue to provide humanitarian assistance.

YANGON CHANGES TONE
Quoting a foreign ministry statement, Myanmar state media yesterday said the government "shares concerns" expressed by the international community, and is "ready to provide humanitarian assistance to anyone who suffered in the sea".

Reversing its earlier stance of not attending the May 29 meeting on the issue in Bangkok, Myanmar's Deputy Foreign Minister Thant Kyaw said, "We all have to sit down and we all have to consider how to tackle this problem." 

Meanwhile, US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would push Myanmar to improve conditions for Rohingya when he visits the country today.

During a stop in Jakarta yesterday, he said, "The only sustainable solution to the problem is changing the conditions that led [Rohingya people] to put their lives at risk in the first place, and that is one of the things that we will be talking about tomorrow with the government of Myanmar." 

POPE CHIMES IN
Pope Francis also issued his first comments on the issue on Tuesday, likening the plight of the "poor Rohingya" to that of Christian and ethnic Yazidi people brutalised by the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

"We think of the poor Rohingya of Myanmar. As they leave their land to escape persecution, they do not know what will happen to them," he said in a mass at the Vatican.