KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 ― With proper guidance and management, the Rohingya community here can prosper as well as the Indian-Muslims, the Malaysian Rohingya Council (MRM) said today.

The movement's president Mohd Nazri Sahat said in 20 years the Rohingya community will likely grow and may even contribute to the nation's economy.

“Look at the Indian-Muslim community, they have formed to have thousands of shops in the country now. Same goes for the Pattani community, and Acheh community. There has been a social transformation in the past 20 years.

“The same can be done for the Rohingya community. How long can this go for? When you just see them begging for help. They should progress as a community,” he said in a press conference today.

Nazri explained that MRM aims to oversee the Rohingya community here as well as assist them in various aspects including mental health, advocacy of rights and providing them with a sustainable livelihood.

The council which comprises of several NGOs as well as Rohingya groups aims to document all the refugees in the country and database them by end of June this year.

The Malaysian Rohingya Council’s president Mohd Nazri Sahat said in 20 years the Rohingya community will likely grow and may even contribute to the nation's economy. ― Picture by Azinuddin Ghazali
The Malaysian Rohingya Council’s president Mohd Nazri Sahat said in 20 years the Rohingya community will likely grow and may even contribute to the nation's economy. ― Picture by Azinuddin Ghazali

Nazri also said that by helping the Rohingya community to settle down and managed properly, it would help avoid the community to turn toward a life of crime which would be detrimental to Malaysia.

“If we don't tap into this manpower that the Rohingya have, they might turn to a life of crime. This would lead to chaos in the country.

“Whose fault will that be? It will be ours because we didn't nip the problem at the bud,” he stressed.

MRM is planning on holding a special convention on January 20 to address Rohingya issues as well as appoint leaders within the community to help with better liaison in the future.

In November, the Dewan Rakyat was told that a total of 62,153 people of the Rohingya ethnic community had registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the country as of September 30 this year.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim said 53,811 of them were refugees and the remaining 8,342 were asylum seekers, and up to 2,061 Rohingya had been resettled in third countries by the UNHCR.