Malaysia seeks Myanmar help on migrant 'catastrophe'

Malaysia's prime minister said today he would seek help from Myanmar to address the unfolding "humanitarian catastrophe" involving a wave of boatpeople flooding to Southeast Asia, thousands of whom are ethnic Rohingya fleeing oppression in the mainly Buddhist country.
Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand have come under increasing pressure to rescue a wave of starving and helpless Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants after triggering outrage by turning them back out to sea with scarce food and nowhere to go.
Prime Minister Najib Razak said "we are liasing with the Myanmar government to get their response," according to Malaysia's official Bernama news agency.

"I hope they will give a positive response as the refugees were due to internal problems that we cannot interfere with, but we want to do something before it gets worse," he said.
Myanmar's cooperation is deemed vital to solving Southeast Asia's biggest influx of boatpeople since the end of the Vietnam War.
But its government - which denies the Muslim Rohingya citizenship - has already rejected a Thai call for a regional summit on the issue on May 29, saying it was not their problem.

The UN refugee agency has reported a surge in departures from Bay of Bengal ports in recent months.

Activists say 8,000 people may be adrift on overcrowded vessels, with starvation and disease claiming lives, after a Thai crackdown crimped busy human-trafficking routes and spurred smugglers to abandon men, women and children at sea.
In one of the grimmest episodes yet, survivors of a boat that sank off the east coast of Sumatra island - among roughly 900 people rescued off Indonesia yesterday - described a bloody struggle for survival between Bangladeshis and Rohingya on board.
"They were killing each other, throwing people overboard," said Sunarya, police chief of the city of Langsa near where they were rescued.
The packed boat had put to sea two months ago but was deserted this week by captain and crew, survivors said.

It was then turned away, first by Indonesia and then Malaysia, as the Rohingya won an onboard fight for the remaining food, said Bangladeshi survivor Muhammad Koyes.