Staff Reporter :Another 700 Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants were rescued off Indonesia on Friday as Myanmar undermind calls for a coordinated response to the human-trafficking crisis by threatening to boycott a planned Southeast Asian summit, police said. Indonesian police said passengers aboard the latest vessel seeking safe harbour in the region recounted how their boat sank off the country’s coast after earlier being driven away by Malaysia, according to newspaper and agency reports.But the decision by Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand to turn away stricken boats filled with starving Bangladeshis and ethnic Rohingya from Myanmar has been met with outrage, including from the US and UN. “According to initial information we got from them they were pushed away by the Malaysian navy to the border of Indonesian waters,” said Sunarya, police chief in the city of Langsa in Aceh province, where the migrants arrived.The boat was sinking but Indonesian fishermen ferried them to shore, he said. Nearly 1,300 migrants are already sheltering in Aceh after fetching ashore in recent days.Earlier Friday, another boat carrying about 300 Rohingya — a persecuted Muslim minority in Myanmar — left Thailand’s waters, a Thai official said, after authorities repaired its engine and provided some food.The boat’s passengers included many children and women who wept as they begged for food and water, after arriving near the southern Thai island of Koh Lipe on Thursday.They told a boatload of journalists of a grim two-month odyssey in which 10 passengers had died of starvation or illness and were tossed overboard.”We haven’t had anything to eat for a week, there is nowhere to sleep… my children are sick,” said Sajida, 27, a Rohingya who was travelling with her four young children.Many of the migrants are now feared to be stranded at sea after a Thai police crackdown threw busy people-smuggling routes into chaos.Activists estimate up to 8,000 migrants are at sea in Southeast Asia Meanwhile, Thailand has announced a special regional meeting on May 29 on how to tackle illegal migrants.The one-day “Special Meeting on Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean” is an urgent call for the region to comprehensively work together to address the unprecedented increase in irregular migration across the Bay of Bengal in recent years, Thai Foreign Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn said on Friday.The increasing complexity of the problem demands a multi-faceted approach. The countries of origin, transit and destination must work together to address the problem comprehensively by addressing the root causes as well as all the contributing factors along the way, the ministry’s statement said.The one-day special meeting will be attended by senior officials from 15 affected countries, including Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh – and the United States.Thai government is ready to discuss and help tackle the long-standing problem of illegal migrants at the countries of origin, Tanasak said. “Thailand is ready to help the origin countries. We can hold discussions with them regarding their problems. We are ready to send units to help both Myanmar and Bangladesh develop sustainable economies to tackle the problem,” Tanasak said in an exclusive interview with the Thai daily — The Nation — yesterday.However, he said Thailand now needs to tell the world that we are just a transit point and we are neither the point of origin nor the destination though some officials in Thailand may be involved in the trafficking.As a long-term measure to tackle the issue of illegal migrants, especially Rohingya, the foreign minister said first of all the countries of origin need to ensure their people are happy with their lives, then they wouldn’t need to migrate to other countries.However, he said the current migration problem will end as soon as the monsoon starts in June when they will stop travelling.Regarding the government considering setting up temporary shelters to house Rohingya and other illegal migrants in Thailand, Tanasak said the ministry is ready to cooperate with international organisations if the shelters were set up.Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha on Tuesday said the issue is being discussed by government legal experts, as it would have many consequences, including those affecting our national security.However, Tanasak said Thailand will label those who are in Thailand as illegal migrants.Observers from the United Nations High Com-mission for Refugees, the International Organisation for Migration, Office on Drugs and Crime, and other organisations have also been invited to attend the special meeting.The meeting will build on the progress of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crimes, the statement said.It will also follow up on the existing work done on this issue, particularly at the Special Ministerial Conference on Irregular Movement of Persons, in Jakarta in 2013.The meeting, to be chaired by Norachit Sinhaseni, permanent secretary at the Foreign Ministry, would provide a forum for exchange of information and intelligence on the current situation on irregular migration by sea and its challenges, as well as to demonstrate their strong commitment to strengthen cooperation and foster more concrete actions.Such actions may include, among other things, cooperation on information and intelligence sharing as well as coordination in law enforcement to dismantle transnational criminal networks, and collective information campaign at countries of origin, transit, and destination to promote awareness and prevent exploitation.
