Indonesia, Malaysia agree to provide temporary shelter to stranded migrants

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PUTRAJAYA: Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to continue to provide humanitarian assistance, by offering temporary shelter to 7,000 irregular migrants still at sea.

The announcement was contained in a joint statement read by Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman after a meeting with his counterparts from Indonesia, Retno Marsudi and Thailand, General Tanasak Patimapragor here
today to address the plight of the irregular migrants.

Anifah said the two countries agreed to provide the temporary shelter provided that the resettlement and repatriation process would be done in one year by the international community.

“In the meantime, Malaysia and Indonesia invite other countries in the region to join in this endeavour,” he told a media conference together with his Indonesian counterpart Retno after the meeting.

Tanasak , who is also the Thai Deputy Prime Minister, did not attend the press conference to attend to urgent matters in his country.

Anifah said Thailand could not give their commitment in providing temporary shelters to the migrants as they needed to iron out its domestic law issues under the present circumstances.

“However, Malaysia and Indonesia cannot wait any longer, because our priority is to save them and cannot leave them in the sea. We have to reach out to them, and as for now, we have been sending supplies to them,” he said.-Bernama