The money, MRA president Abdul Razak Kechik said, would be channelled to the victims through activists based in Myanmar as the agency could not go into Arakan at the moment.

Razak said 16 villages were destroyed in Arakan, displacing 30,000 Rohingyas, following communal clashes between the Muslim community and Rakhine Buddhists in the western state of Rakhine.

“Each family will get RM300, where RM100 will be used for blankets as the cold season is approaching, and the remaining RM200 for food,” he told reporters at the Al-Islam Specialist Hospital today.

Razak urged the public to help the Rohingyas.

Meanwhile, MRA secretary general Dr Shahrizal Azwan Samsudin said the agency could not send food and clothing because it did not have MRA relief workers on the ground to receive the goods.

“We have no permission to enter Arakan and we won’t be able to monitor the distribution of food and clothing.

“It’s also costly to ship the goods and we are not sure if they will arrive at Arakan.”

Shahrizal is urging the public to give cash instead of food items and clothing.

The funds can be channelled to “Tabung Bantuan Kemanusiaan Rohingya” under the name of “Malaysian Relief Agency”, Account No. 5640 9820 6365 (Maybank).

Rohingyas are stateless minority Muslims who are seen as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh by Buddhist nationalists.