Malaysia Says Rohingya Migrants A Health Security Threat

While many Malaysians have welcomed Rohingya to their shores on the back of a boat people crisis that has seen around 7000 migrants stuck at sea, the country's health minister warned Tuesday that those being sheltered may present a health threat.



Subramaniam Sathasivam described Rohingya seeking shelter as a security threat, unless they take the necessary screening efforts. 



He told reporters at Parliament that the ministry had undertaken disease screening exercises on all refugees in various camps nationwide.



One person has tested positive for malaria and three more positive for microfilaria, he added. 



The ministry is also planning to include screening to detect other viral diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy. 



"However, if the refugees show any symptoms for any other diseases, they would be separated and would be medicated immediately," Sathasivam said.



Malaysia currently hosts one of the largest urban refugee populations in the world. 



As of mid-2014, some 146,020 refugees and asylum seekers had been registered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia, of which the vast majority (some 135,000) are from Myanmar.



The total is devised of three ethnic groups - Chin, Rohingya and Myanmar Muslims.



Since a tri-nation conference on the Southeast Asian boat people crisis May 20, Indonesia and Malaysia have said they will take the Rohingya in for one year, ascertain which are asylum seekers and which are economic migrants, and then the international community will find homes for them.



In recent years, around 130,000 Rohingya have fled the country by sea, according to the UN. 



They have suffered systematic discrimination for decades - much of which Human Rights groups claim is state sanctioned.



Myanmar's government has repeatedly denied that persecution of the Rohingya is the root cause of the current migrant crisis, and has instead pinned the blame on people traffickers, who have been shipping migrants from Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh's south to Thailand and beyond. - Endonezya