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PUTRAJAYA - Myanmar has expressed its readiness to repatriate 5,000 of its refugees by ship, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
He said the matter was raised during his recent meeting with Myanmar Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe but stressed that the safety of the refugees must be taken into consideration.
"When I met the new Foreign Minister of Myanmar, they expressed their readiness to bring back these 5,000 (refugees) by ship. But the issue is the safety of these 5,000 people.”
"Will it be safe to send them back? Or what will happen to them? That also needs to be considered," he told a press conference after attending the 59th ASEAN Day celebration here on Monday.
Mohamad said Malaysia had identified all 5,000 refugees concerned and, although no specific timeframe had been set so far, the repatriation process should be expedited.
Meanwhile, Mohamad said the issue of refugees from Myanmar should not be viewed solely from the perspective of the Rohingya, as various other ethnic groups from the country had also become refugees, including the Chin and Karen communities.
He said ASEAN also viewed the issue of Myanmar refugees seriously and that it should be addressed collectively by member states.
He stressed that the Five-Point Consensus (5PC) should remain the core of ASEAN's mechanism for addressing the crisis in Myanmar.
"We want the 5PC to remain the core of ASEAN's mechanism towards Myanmar, and we want the Myanmar government to fulfil the aspirations of ASEAN leaders because the 5PC was signed and agreed upon by all, including Myanmar's leadership at the time.
"If there are any changes that need to be made to the 5PC, they must be brought back to the negotiating table and decided by the ASEAN leaders themselves," he said. - BERNAMA
