Sittwe, Myanmar - Malaysia ordered search and rescue missions Thursday for thousands of boatpeople stranded at sea, as Myanmar hosted talks with US and Southeast Asian envoys on the migrant exodus from its shores.
The rescue order, which is the first proactive official move to save the thousands of persecuted Muslim Rohingya and Bangladeshi economic migrants believed currently to be adrift, comes a day after Malaysia and Indonesia said they would end a policy of turning away boats.
"We have to prevent loss of life," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on his Facebook account, announcing the measure.
Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir told AFP his country had not made a similar order but the issue was "something that will be discussed".
As the migrant crisis has unfolded in the past few days, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have been heavily criticised for refusing to take in boats overloaded with exhausted passengers fleeing poverty or persecution.
But on Wednesday, Malaysia and Indonesia relented, announcing their nations would accept boatpeople for one year, or until they can be resettled or repatriated with the help of international agencies.
Thailand has declined to take in boatpeople but vowed not to push them away, and on Thursday Thai junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha lashed out at critics of that stance by saying detractors could "migrate" to sea themselves, or take migrants into their own homes.
The Thai leader said his country was already home to more than 900,000 refugees from decades of regional turmoil.
Malaysia and Indonesia's policy about-turn was welcomed by the United States, which said it also stood ready to admit some of the migrants, as well as the Red Cross.
Malaysia and Indonesia's foreign ministers met Myanmar officials in Naypyidaw for talks late Thursday, where the fate of the Rohingya people remains an incendiary issue.
Indonesia's foreign ministry said in a statement Myanmar had agreed to "strengthen measures to prevent the irregular movement of migrants" from its territory and would also send officials from their embassy in Jakarta to visit boatpeople who had recently landed in the Aceh region.
There was no comment from the Myanmar side on the outcome of talks.
AFP
