Malaysia to raise Myanmar issue at special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers' Meeting

KUANTAN: Malaysia will raise the Myanmar issue at the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers' Meeting scheduled to take place on June 16 and 17 in New Delhi, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah.

He said among the matters that would be highlighted during the informal meeting with other foreign ministers was the Five-Point Consensus including humanitarian aid to Myanmar.

"I would suggest that ASEAN foreign ministers think seriously and deeply about new and creative methods that can be done to solve the problem in Myanmar, including how to fully implement the Five-Point Consensus because it is general in nature, we must be detailed and have a clear roadmap.

"Then, we have to evaluate whether ASEAN can implement it or not, if we want to ask for help, we have to decide...there are dialogue countries so we choose which country to ask for help," he told a press conference after launching a basic sign language course for the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Unit of the Indera Mahkota Parliamentary Service Centre and handing over aid to haj pilgrims here today.

Commenting further, Saifuddin who is Indera Mahkota MP, said he would also highlight the issue of the delivery of humanitarian aid to Myanmar so that it would be done fairly, equitably and without discrimination.

The Myanmar issue is serious and needs to be resolved immediately as the number of refugees and deaths is increasing, Saifuddin said.

"We have stressed to Myanmar that the issue happening there is no longer an internal issue because their people have fled and have started burdening others, 1.2 million people are in Bangladesh, about 150,000 in Malaysia and that figure is not fixed," he said.

He also informed that several countries have expressed their readiness to increase their acceptance of more Myanmar refugees in Malaysia to be resettled there.

"The resettlement was previously disrupted due to COVID-19 and there are one or two large countries that are willing to increase their acceptance of refugees compared to before COVID-19," he said without disclosing the countries involved.

Meanwhile, on reports of more than 1,000 Malaysians abroad possibly being victims of job scam syndicates, Saifuddin said he could not confirm the number and advised Malaysians not to get easily enticed with such offers.

Recently, MCA Public Services and Complaints Bureau chief Datuk Seri Michael Chong claimed that there were over 1,000 Malaysians who were victims of fraud syndicates abroad.

On today's event, Saifuddin said 12 staff would take part in the sign language course for three months.

-- BERNAMA