Malaysia gets firm, no longer accept Rohingyas - Ismail Sabri

The government will stand firm on the issue of Rohingya refugees entering the country, including not accepting them anymore, said Senior Minister (Security Cluster), Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said, one of the actions to be taken would be to send the refugees to the settlement provided by the Bangladeshi government.

At the same time, he said the Foreign Ministry has been asked to speak with the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) to place them in other third countries.

"The government has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to speak with the UNHCR to send them to third countries. Many countries around the world were questioning (disputing) how (Malaysia) has been handling the Rohingyas.

"So, we ask them to accept these people. I ask the Foreign Ministry to talk to them to accept the Rohingyas because they are members of a convention on the refugees.

"We will be firm this time, we will send them to Bangladesh and other third countries," he told a daily press conference here on Tuesday.

Commenting on the action of 269 Rohingyas who leaked their boat to encroach into Malaysia, he said, the modus operandi of the foreigners had caused much trouble to the country.

"It is true that the PAT (Chief of Armed Forces) made the statement yesterday ... that their modus operandi is troubling us. When they entered our waters, they leaked their boat deliberately.

"Then they would jump into the sea. So, we have no choice in whether to leave them at sea to drown or save them on humanitarian grounds. We do not want to let young children, elderly people die before our eyes without saving them," he added.

Therefore, he said the government had decided to make sure the refugees would be sent back to their country.

"We have decided they are not going to be in our country. We will ask the Foreign Ministry to discuss with Bangladesh.

"If the refugees were coming from Cox's Bazaar, we will send them back and place them in Bhasan Island (the settlement) which the Bangladesh government built for the Rohingya refugees," he said.