KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — The DAP today accused Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of vindictiveness in his challenge for Penang to take in Bangladeshi and Rohingya refugees from the current humanitarian crisis.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the move was reprisal for Umno’s defeat in the Permatang Pauh poll last month, and told Zahid not to shirk his responsibilities as home minister and to instead work together with the state government in addressing the issue.
“Be a responsible minister, do not politicise national security... When we offer our hand in cooperation on national security, you turn around and bite us, play petty politics,” Lim told a news conference here.
“I know you are bitter about losing Permatang Pauh but this is not the way to take revenge against the Penang state government.”
Lim said his administration was unsure what it was able to do about the refugee situation at the moment, saying it lacked both the resources and information necessary to arrive at any solution.
Over the weekend, Zahid challenged Penang to prove its claim of upholding human rights by taking in the Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants stranded at sea.
The Star Online also reported the minister as saying that several locations, aside from the island-state, have been identified as temporary camps for the migrants.
“We want to see the sincerity of the Penang government, led by DAP that are partners with PKR and PAS, that claims to champion human rights and is always asking the government to adopt humanitarian policies,” Zahid was quoted saying in Kajang.
Lim had previously said that the Rohingya and Bangladeshis should be given shelter on federal land as Penang lacks space to house them.
Malaysia and Indonesia agreed last Wednesday to provide humanitarian assistance to the 7,000 migrants still adrift at sea, including offering temporary shelter, provided that the international community takes steps to repatriate them within a year.
Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi migrants were left to fend for themselves after their traffickers abandoned ship following a Thai crackdown that was sparked by the discovery of mass graves in southern Thailand, believed to contain corpses of Rohingya and Bangladeshis.
Utusan Malaysia’s Sunday edition, Mingguan Malaysia, reported yesterday the discovery 30 mass graves in Perlis believed to contain hundreds of corpses of Rohingya and Bangladeshis, after the Home Ministry denied the existence of human trafficking camps in Malaysia.
Police today confirmed the discovery of 139 such graves spread across 28 human trafficking camps in the country, containing an undetermined number of bodies.
