Staff Reporter :Bangladesh and Malaysia have agreed on continued cooperation with other countries in the region, seeking a resolution to a deepening crisis in which boatloads of migrants are stranded off Southeast Asia’s shores, with no country willing to take them in.The agreement came at the fourth meeting of the Malaysia-Bangladesh Joint Commission held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia on Sunday, ahead of meetings scheduled meetings with Indonesian and Thai foreign ministers in the coming days.Foreign Minister A H Mahmood Ali and his Malaysian counterpart Dato’ Sri Anifah Aman led their respective sides in the meeting which was preceded by a senior officials’ meeting held yesterday.Both the Foreign Ministers agreed to further explore the potentials of bilateral trade and investment, according to a message received here from Malaysia.During the meeting, Dhaka requested Kuala Lumpur to take further steps to recruit more workers from Bangladesh and consider opening other potential sectors for Bangladesh workers.Malaysia also launched a series of high-level talks with its neighbors Sunday, seeking a solution to a deepening crisis in which boatloads of refugees are stranded off Southeast Asia’s shores.The Malaysian foreign minister will meet with his Indonesian counterpart today (Monday) and Thailand counterpart on Wednesday to discuss on the immigrant boatmen issue, according to New Straits Time Online report. Boatloads of more than 2,000 members of Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya Muslim community fleeing persecution and migrants from Bangladesh trying to escape poverty have landed in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in recent weeks.But, thousands more are stranded at sea after a crackdown on human traffickers prompted captains and smugglers to abandon their human cargo.Expressing satisfaction over the current state of bilateral relations, the both sides hoped that regular exchange of visits and interaction between leaders and officials would continue to be the driving force behind the development of productive and mutually beneficial relations between the two countries.During the meeting, whole gamut of bilateral issues were discussed when both sides agreed to explore the option to use existing platforms such as Malaysia South-South Association (MASSA) and Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI) to organize the Bangladesh-Malaysia Investment Forum.Both sides agreed to establish institutional cooperation mechanism between the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MMD) and the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) to promote the exchange of seismic measurement data in real time and sharing of knowledge, experience and good practices on tropical meteorology.The two sides resolved to conduct the Joint Commission meeting on bi-annual basis in strengthening bilateral relations and agreed to establish Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) between the two foreign ministries to further strengthen and consolidate the existing relations. Malaysia is the current chair of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which has been criticized for long ignoring the plight of the ethnic Rohingya.ASEAN adheres to a strict policy of non-interference, which in the past has blocked public criticism of Myanmar and critics say enables member states to commit abuses without consequences.After the 4th Joint Commission meeting between Malaysia and Bangladesh Anifah said Malaysia as ASEAN chairman is still seeking out a date to sit with Myanmar foreign minister before deciding on other steps like bringing the matter to the international level or holding an emergency meeting. “We are now finding a solution to the problem and currently is giving humanitarian assistance, among others… but I have already stated that we cannot afford to accept more (of the arrival) of them as a huge number already existed here and so far no countries wants to settle them,” he said. Anifah said so this burden should not be carried by Malaysia alone and we are asking Myanmar to participate in finding a solution. “We try to help them (refugees) as best as we can but at the same time there are people complaining why there was an influx of illegal immigrants in our shores,” said the Malaysian foreign minister. “We have to look at our own interests too, our social problems and security problems, we have to take that into consideration,” he reasoned. On the meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart, Anifah said he was briefed that based on history, Bangladesh has never considered Rohingya community from the Rakhine state as their citizens. He said the massive number of illegal immigrants that landed in Langkawi recently has yet to be ascertained on their nationality, but Abul Hassan has assured Bangladesh is willing to cooperate with Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand on this issue.
