North-South Initiative executive director Adrian Pereira and Forum-Asia executive director Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu said the lives of the 200-odd would-be refugees were now in danger and they told FMT they were appalled by the cruelty.
Pereira, noting that Malaysia had in the past managed refugees in systematic ways, said chasing away this group was irrational and inhuman.
He warned that they could fall victim to human traffickers. “Traffickers take advantage of desperate migrants and refugees, especially in a crisis,” he said.
Shamini said they could be subject to “grave international crimes” if they had no choice but to return to Myanmar.
Bernama reported yesterday that a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) surveillance aircraft on Thursday morning spotted the refugee boat 70 nautical miles west of Pulau Langkawi and contacted the Royal Malaysian Navy.
RMAF said in a media statement it feared the group might bring Covid-19 into the country.
The crew of the KD Lekiu navy vessel distributed food to the group and escorted their boat out of Malaysian waters.
Pereira noted that the Malaysian government had long sympathised with the Rohingya’s plight and said it should have given the group at least temporary sanctuary.
“We should be able to accommodate them,” he said. “I really don’t think the issue of health is a good excuse. It can be managed.”
He added that it would also be unreasonable to say they would strain the country’s resources since migrants were making significant contributions to the Malaysian economy. “It’s about how we manage the money.”
He said the action of turning the group away would taint Malaysia’s international image.
Shamini said the government should not cite the measures it was taking against the Covid-19 threat as a pretext to flout international law.
Nor should it force “some of the most persecuted peoples to return to the abhorrent conditions from which they are seeking safety”, she added.
“Malaysia has a moral obligation to provide safety to those seeking asylum from grave crimes and to respect international law, in particular the principle of non-refoulement.”
Any response to the pandemic, Shamini said, should be inclusive and should not serve to aggravate the plight of the Rohingya.
“Leaving the Rohingya stranded at sea will make them more vulnerable to Covid-19, which will only serve to exacerbate the global pandemic,” she said.
A spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees told FMT that screening, quarantining and other measures could be arranged.
She said these would enable authorities to manage the arrival of asylum seekers and refugees in a safe manner while respecting international refugee protection standards.
“The government of Malaysia has shown how this can be managed well with a group believed to be Rohingya refugees arriving by boat in Langkawi in early April,” she said.
In the April 5 incident, the refugees were allowed to disembark and they were screened and quarantined.
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