(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Malaysia will issue a stern warning to Myanmar to address the Rohingya issue, an official said Monday as Southeast Asian countries face a crisis of thousands of migrants being stranded at sea and washing ashore.
A Malaysian foreign ministry official who requested anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media told Anadolu Agency that Malaysia is expected to make the call as ASEAN chair during a proposed meeting with the foreign ministers of Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand this week.
"The meeting is slated by the end of this week. But Myanmar has yet to respond to the Malaysian Foreign Ministry's request for an official meeting to deliberate on the issue," he said.
Since Thailand launched a crackdown on human trafficking in its southern region on May 1, boatloads of Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants € mostly fleeing Myanmar - have been turning up on Malaysian and Indonesian shores.
All three countries have since announced plans to turn the vessels back, unless they are unseaworthy and sinking. Thailand has since reneged, however, saying it may let smaller boats in.
On Sunday, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman met his Bangladeshi counterpart A.H. Mahmood Ali to discuss matters related to the surge in illegal boat people travelling to the region, among other issues.
The Malaysian official told Anadolu Agency on Monday that Anifah was due to host his Indonesian and Thai counterparts, Retno Marsudi and General Tanasak Patimapragorn, for talks on the migrant crisis Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur.
"If Myanmar fails to respond by then [Wednesday], then Malaysia will use a certain clause of ASEAN chairmanship to call for the grouping's emergency meeting to deliberate on the matter in a larger scale," he added.
He said Malaysia remains hopeful for a reply from Myanmar's government.
Meanwhile, a senior Myanmar official has lashed out at mounting international pressure on the country to join talks on the crisis.
The Myanmar Times reported Monday that a director of the President's Office had criticized Malaysia and Thailand for attempting to shift blame to Myanmar over a matter he said resulted from human traffickers and corrupt officials.
"As countries in ASEAN region, they need to deal with their own weaknesses and problems boldly. Their guilt won't disappear if they just put the blame on Myanmar," U Zaw Htay wrote in a Facebook post Friday.
Inter-governmental agency the International Organization for Migration has estimated that 8,000 migrants smuggled from either western Myanmar or Bangladesh are currently on boats in the Andaman Sea and Malacca Straits.
The deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch has accused Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia of playing games with the boats and putting the lives of those on board at risk.
Last week, over 1,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants were reported to have landed illegally on the Malaysian island of Langkawi. Indonesia is understood to be sheltering around 1,500 boat people.
With the situation showing no signs of improving, Bangkok has called on international organizations to pressure Myanmar after it threatened to boycott a May 29 regional meeting aimed at solving the crisis.
Myanmar has said it will not attend the meeting if the word "Rohingya" is mentioned on the invitation.
Myanmar refuses to identify the Muslims who live in Western Rakhine state as "Rohingya," preferring to use the term Bengali which suggests they are migrants from Bangladesh.
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