M’sia Striving To Resolve Rohingya Refugee Problem – Rais

April 08, 2009, http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=402684

KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 (Bernama) — Malaysia is taking measures through the Asean Secretariat to have the 15,001 Rohingya refugees repatriated to their home country of Myanmar or encourage third countries to accept them, the Dewan Negara was told today.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said the Rohingya refugees in this country received various sources of assistance from Malaysians and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as well as several third countries including Australia and Canada.
He was replying to a question from Senator Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar.

To a supplementary question, from Senator Datuk Wira Syed Ali Alhabshee, on the diplomatic efforts of the ministry to enable Malaysia overcome the “serious” problem of the Rohingya refugees, Rais said the foreign ministry had notified the Myanmar government officially about the problem and that country had given several commitments through Asean.

“However, the Asean Secretariat has to gather data on the Rohingya before any specific action can be taken,” he said.

– BERNAMA