Malaysia to build hospital in Cox’s Bazar, stands by Bangladesh on Rohingya issue

Malaysia will staunchly support Bangladesh in its effort to resolve the Rohingya crisis and help to manage nearly a million refugees with relief materials and infrastructure building.

The Southeast Asian country has proposed to set up a field hospital in Cox's Bazar for the refugees who fled army crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine State.

The visiting Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi conveyed this message to Bangladesh side while meeting with Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam on Sunday at the State Guest House Padma.

Malaysian Minister for Human Resources Richard Riot Anak Jaem and Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam were also present during the meeting, the foreign ministry said.

Mahmood Ali appreciated Malaysia’s “bold position” in support of persecuted Rohingyas, the initiative of providing humanitarian assistance to the Rohingyas.

He also welcomed the proposal for setting up of the field hospital in Cox’s Bazar to provide medical care to around 300,000 Rohingyas.

The Deputy Prime Minister applauded Bangladesh for giving the distressed Rohingyas shelter and Bangladesh’s all-out effort to provide them with humanitarian assistance.

“He mentioned that Malaysia is deeply concerned at the disturbing developments and took a strong position on the Rohingya issue in the UN and other regional forums,” the foreign ministry said.

Malaysia supports the involvement of international community and UN agencies in the repatriation process.

He also said that Malaysian and Bangladesh could be leading partners in resolving the problem. “He assured that Malaysia would be with Bangladesh on this issue.”

The foreign minister briefed him about the situation after the arrival of half a million Rohingyas that took the number to over 900,000.

Referring to the recent visit of the Myanmar Minister and the discussion on the return of the Rohingyas, he mentioned that major issues of concern remain left to be addressed.

“Agreed principles and criteria of 1992 needs to be revised to address the current challenge, and international community and the UN agencies should be allowed to support the repatriation process.”

Employment of Bangladeshi workforce in Malaysia also featured during the meeting.

Bangladesh thanked Malaysia for including Bangladesh as an “official source country” for recruitment of foreign workforce.

Both sides discussed the present status of implementation of the G2G+ mechanism for recruiting Bangladeshi workers and agreed to speed up the whole process of recruitment.

“Bangladesh and Malaysia agreed to address all issues that delay the process and redress it through the Joint Working Group,” the foreign ministry said.

The expatriates’ welfare minister thanked Malaysia for allowing the irregular worker to regularise themselves through the re-hiring program.

He conveyed Bangladesh’s readiness to provide trained security guards to Malaysia.

“Malaysia showed interest to recruit Security Guards from Bangladesh.”

The Deputy Prime Minister will visit the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar Monday.