“In this holy month of Ramadan we should show compassion and humanity to those who seek refuge in this country without compromising our national security,” he said in a Facebook post.

He was commenting on the hundreds of Rohingya detainees who broke out of a temporary immigration detention centre in Kedah yesterday.

Khaled said incidents of escape, protests and riots at such centres were not new.

“It is a recurrent issue and is probably due to overcrowding in detention blocks, long detention periods and the limited government resources in managing such centres,” he said.

Khaled pointed out that continued and prolonged detention was a human rights violation.

“It is also a waste of people’s money when it involves full government funding.

“Rohingya who have registered under the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) should be released immediately and be allowed to work,” he said, adding that it was better than importing millions of unskilled workers through complicated memorandums of understanding.

He also said close cooperation must be enhanced with the UNHCR so that the refugees can be immediately relocated and begin life anew in third countries.

“Malaysia must show its commitment to managing refugee-related policies more transparently and responsibly,” he said.

Early yesterday morning, 528 Rohingya inmates fled the temporary immigration depot at Bandar Baharu, Kedah. There were 664 inmates at the centre at the time.

A total of 357 inmates were rounded up by police. Six were killed when they were crossing a highway.

The incident also received responses from NGOs and MPs like Wong Chen, who urged Putrajaya to implement better policies on refugees and asylum seekers.