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Could Virus See Rohingya 'Floating Coffins' Crisis Return to ASEAN?

VOA News

   Malaysia is using COVID-19 as an excuse to reject Rohingya Muslim
   refugees, human rights groups say, bringing flashbacks of 2015 when
   boat refugees died after escaping Myanmar in what the United Nations
   called "floating coffins."

   The Malaysian military confirmed it had turned back at least one
   "suspicious boat" full of Rohingya Friday, though Amnesty International
   said it had received information that there are a handful of other
   boats in limbo, possibly heading to Malaysia and Thailand.

   "Refusing to help the people on these boats would not be willfully
   blind, it would be consciously making their plights even worse,"
   ClareAlgar, senior director for research, advocacy and policy at
   Amnesty International, said.

   She added, "The battle against COVID-19 is no excuse for regional
   governments to let their seas become graveyards for desperate Rohingya
   people."

   The nearly 400 refugees were then rescued by Bangladesh after almost
   two months at sea, but 30 others may have died on the journey,
   according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The agency said the
   Rohingya were malnourished and in need of medical care.

   When turning away the refugee boat, Kuala Lumpur said it was merely
   enforcing its "movement control order," one of the measures to fight
   the virus that also included thousands of arrests of citizens and a
   crackdown on speech.

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