Dhaka: Myanmar and Bangladesh are asked for an urgent discussion with Malaysia over the large number of illegal immigrants coming to Langkawi, reports The Nation.

Malaysian Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Alwi Ibrahim said, they had found elements of human trafficking over the record massive landing of the illegals.

As a step to ensure that the incidents were not repeated, Alwi said that Malaysia would call for a discussion with Bangladesh and Myanmar.

He added that Thailand would also be involved in the matter since the cases of trafficking of migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar were also through the Malaysia-Thailand border.

Meanwhile, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Special Rep­resentative on Rohingya Muslims Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said a human tragedy of ‘catastrophic proportions’ looms if the influx of Rohingya refugees into Malaysia is not dealt with immediately.

Asean should address the issue urgently.

‘This problem must be discussed in Asean, especially among the countries involved, namely Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar.

‘Otherwise, it is going to turn into a catastrophe and a human tragedy,’ said the long-serving former foreign minister in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia will turn back migrant boats

Malaysia will turn away boats bearing desperate migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh unless they are in imminent danger of sinking, a top coast guard official said Wednesday, reports AFP.

‘The policy has always been to escort them out of Malaysian waters after giving them the necessary provisions,’ First Admiral Tan Kok Kwee of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency told AFP on the resort island of Langkawi.

More than 1,000 exhausted and starving migrants have abandoned people-smuggling boats and swum to Langkawi in recent days, with hundreds of others also reaching nearby Indonesia.

Indonesia's navy said Tuesday it had turned away a vessel packed with hundreds of migrants.

Southeast Asia is grappling with a migrant crisis after a Thai crackdown on a thriving people-smuggling trade severely disrupted trafficking routes, leaving overcrowded vessels with nowhere to go and passengers at risk of starvation and disease.