Rohingya crisis: Bangladesh hopes Malaysia will play instrumental role in ASEAN summit

Bangladesh hopes Malaysia will play an instrumental role to move the issue of Rohingya refugees forward within ASEAN and help achieve a durable solution to the crisis.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to Malaysia Golam Sarwar said Malaysia was one of the countries that immediately responded to Bangladesh's call for assistance during the early weeks of the Rohingya crisis in 2017, reports Malaysian news agency Bernama.

Some 750,000 Rohingyas fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state. They joined 300,000 others who fled earlier waves of violence since 1980s. Despite repeated attempts, not a single Rohingya agreed to return to Myanmar.

Golam Sarwar said Malaysia has also been a dependable supporter of Bangladesh on this issue in various international fora, including in the Asean Summit and the UN General Assembly.

He was addressing Ambassador Global Lecture Programme organised by the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) today. The lecture held virtually was titled "50 years of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Malaysia and the way forward".

"We are thankful to the government of Malaysia for their efforts in setting up field hospital in Cox's Bazaar to provide medical assistance to the Rohingya refugees.

"We hope that Malaysia would continue its political pressure on Myanmar so that the latter creates a conducive environment in the Northern Rakhine State in order to ensure repatriation of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas in Myanmar at the earliest," he said.