Migration | Malaysia to turn away Rohingya unless boats are sinking

Malaysia’s navy says it will turn away any more boats carrying Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants to its shores unless they are sinking.
Marine northern commander Tan Kok Kwee said yesterday that waters around Langkawi island where several wooden vessels have landed in the past three days will be patrolled 24 hours a day by a total of eight ships.
Tan said, “We won’t let any foreign boats come in.” If the boats are seaworthy, he said the navy would “give them provisions and send them away.”
He said they would carry out a rescue only if the boat was sinking.
Since the weekend, more than 1,000 migrants in boats have landed on Langkawi, and another 600 have come ashore in Indonesia.
After four boats carrying nearly 600 people successfully landed in the westernmost province of Aceh, with some migrants jumping into the water and swimming, a fifth carrying hundreds more was turned away early Monday.
Indonesia’s Navy spokesman, First Adm. Manahan Simorangkir, said they were trying to go to Malaysia but got thrown off course.
“We didn’t intend to prevent them from entering our territory, but because their destination country was not Indonesia, we asked them to continue to the country where they actually want to go,” he said. AP