Zahid, who is also Home Minister, said he would be discussing the Rohingya issue with Prime Minister Najib Razak in regard to what further action Malaysia could take.
“We will undertake humanitarian efforts and diplomatic action based on advice given by Wisma Putra (foreign affairs ministry),” he told reporters at an Aidilfitri open house held at his official residence, Sri Satri, here today.
He was asked to comment on media reports that Myanmar was preventing the entry of United Nations investigators to probe into claims of killing, rape and torture of Muslim Rohingya by Myanmar’s security forces.
On another matter, Zahid said he viewed Malaysia’s better ranking in the Human Trafficking Report 2017 issued by the US State Department recently as proof of the Malaysian government’s seriousness in tackling the human trafficking issue.
“Malaysia was placed at Level 3 in the ranking for the last five years … but after taking some drastic measures, it is now at Level 2,” he said.
Zahid said the rise in ranking was the result of cooperation between seven ministries, 10 relevant government departments and agencies, as well as 13 non-governmental organisations in combating the scourge of modern slavery, through eight meetings chaired by him.
“This is part of our efforts to uplift Malaysia’s image in the eyes of the world and such a recognition should be attained,” he said.
He noted that during the visit of then United States president Barack Obama to Malaysia (in April, 2014), the latter had set seven conditions to give Malaysia the opportunity to be included in the US Visa Waiver Programme.
Zahid said the conditions were met by the Malaysian government including reducing the visa application rejection rate to less than 3%, perusal of the list of suspects given by Interpol and sharing of information on terrorism, while Malaysia’s position improved in terms of tackling the smuggling of migrants and security maintenance.