KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — Myanmar should have more “compassion” to deal with the ostracised Rohingyas instead of placing the “burden” on Asean neighbours, the Deputy Prime Minister said today.

Local news portal Malaysiakini reported Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as saying that he did not want to send the wrong message by welcoming the migrants.

“Don’t they (Myanmar) have the compassion to settle this problem internally, to the point this burden has to be dealt with by Asean?” he was quoted as saying.

“We can’t send the wrong signal, that they (the refugees) can come here and be welcome... because then hundreds of thousands will come here like what happened during the Vietnam (war),” he added.

Muhyiddin also reportedly said that Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman will cooperate with his Thai and Indonesian counterparts in order to find a place for the stateless refugees.

Myanmar denies citizenship to the Rohingya and considers them illegal settlers from Bangladesh though they have lived there for generations.

“We have handed this matter to Wisma Putra to take work out the steps that can be taken by our Asean partners,” Muhyiddin was quoted saying.

National news agency Bernama reported Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as saying yesterday that Malaysia must not be burdened with the “problem” of Rohingya refugees as it is an issue which needs to be addressed collectively by all Asean countries.

International newswire AFP reported that Myanmar, however, has rejected Thailand’s call for a regional summit on the migrant crisis on May 29, saying it was not their problem.

UK paper Daily Mail’s news website Mail Online reported that Malaysian vessels turned away yesterday a boat full of migrants after it was pushed back out to sea by Thai navy, following an AFP report of Malaysia turning away Thursday two vessels carrying about 600 migrants off Penang and Langkawi.

Some 800 migrants, however, reportedly managed to land in Acheh in Indonesia on Friday, while 1,158 migrants had reached Langkawi last week and are being sent to the Belantik detention centre in Kedah before Putrajaya deports them back to their home countries.

A recent Thai crackdown on human trafficking has caused people smugglers to abandon ship, leaving thousands of Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants stranded in the Andaman Sea.