Another boat found at sea as Rohingya refugee crisis deepens

Thousands of Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis abandoned at sea had nowhere to turn Thursday as Malaysia turned away two boats crammed with more than 800 migrants, saying it could not afford to keep being nice. Indonesia and Thailand also appeared unwilling to provide refuge to men, women and children, despite appeals by the UN High Commission for Refugees, international aid agencies and rights activists, who warned lives were at risk. Fearing arrests, captains tied to trafficking networks have in recent days abandoned ships in the busy Malacca Strait and surrounding waters, leaving behind their human cargo, in many cases with little food or water, according to survivors. Around 1,600 have been rescued, but an estimated 6,000 remain stranded at sea.

What do you expect us to do? We have been very nice to the people who broke into our border. We have treated them humanely but they cannot be flooding our shores like this.

Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi

Southeast Asia, which for years tried to quietly ignore the plight of Myanmar’s 1.3 million Rohingya, now finds itself caught in a spiraling humanitarian crisis that in many ways it helped create. In the last three years, more than 120,000 members of the Muslim minority have boarded ships to flee to other countries, according to the UN refugee agency. It has been compared to Australia’s controversial ‘tow back’ policy.

We have to send the right message that they are not welcome here.

Wan Junaidi

Asia-Pacific