M'SIA STRIVING TO RESOLVE ROHINGYA REFUGEE PROBLEM

KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is taking measures through the
Asean Secretariat to have the 15,001 Rohingya refugees repatriated to their home
country of Myanmar or encourage third countries to accept them, the Senate
was told Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Dr Rais Yatim said the Rohingya refugees in this
country received various sources of assistance from Malaysians and the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as well as several third
countries including Australia and Canada.

He was replying to a question from Senator Abdul Rahman Bakar.

To a supplementary question, from Senator Syed Ali Alhabshee, on
the diplomatic efforts of the ministry to enable Malaysia overcome the "serious"
problem of the Rohingya refugees, Rais said the foreign ministry had notified
the Myanmar government officially about the problem and that country had given
several commitments through Asean.

"However, the Asean Secretariat has to gather data on the Rohingya before
any specific action can be taken," he said.

-- BERNAMA