Malaysia Says Myanmar To Help Solve Boat People Crisis

By P Prem Kumar

KUALA Malaysia's foreign minister says Myanmar is willing to give it its full cooperation in resolving the boat people crisis that has swept Southeast Asian shores, following a bilateral meeting in the Myanmar capital.

Anifah Aman said in a statement that during Thursday's meeting he had sought assurances from Myanmar that they would assist in tackling the crisis besides, and emphasised the importance of Myanmar identifying its main cause and resolving the problem.

Indonesia's foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, was also present at the event in Myanmar's capital, Nay Pyi Taw.

Many of the migrants on the boats in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea are Rohingya Muslims originating from Western Rakhine State fleeing Myanmar - Myanmar, however, does not recognize the Rohingya, preferring to refer to them as Bengali - which suggests they are from neighboring Bangladesh.

Aman said that his Myanmar contemporary, U Wunna Maung Lwin, had said that his government was always concerned about the development in the Rakhine State, in fact its vice-president U Nyan Tun had made a visit to the region recently.

"The Myanmar government will continue to provide aid and implement economic development and social programs in the region," Aman said.