KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will offer shelter and jobs temporarily to 3,000 Syrian refugees as well as education access for their children while in this country.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said accepting the refugees showed the compassion of the government over the fate of Syrian refugees.
“What is important is to provide shelter for them and their families, and we will also look at various ways to provide education for their children.
“We will use our experience in dealing with refugees so that we can provide temporary shelter, education and jobs to them until there is peace in Syria, after which they can return to their country,” he told reporters after the Asean Special Ministerial Meeting on Radicalism and Extremism.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, in his speech at the 70th General Assembly of the United Nations on Thursday had announced Malaysia’s willingness to accept 3,000 Syrian refugees within the next three years to help in the refugee crisis involving Syrian citizens.
Najib said Muslim nations were partly responsible for the well-being of the Syrians who were displaced from their country in large numbers, which had also caused economic and social stress in Europe.-Bernama