Malaysia Urged Not To Renege On Commitment To Accept Syrian Refugees

By Mohd Noor Firdaus Mohd Azil KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- The government has been urged not to renege on its commitment to bring in some 3,000 Syrian refugees despite concerns among westerners that some of them may have terrorist leanings. Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) CEO Nasharuddin Mat Isa said, however, that the screening process should be tightened so that any possible threat to the nation's security could be countered immediately. "At the moment, I don't see the need to revise our readiness to accept these refugees. There has been no concrete evidence to link the Paris attacks to the Syrian refugees. "These Syrian people need to be helped," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the 2nd Network of the ASEAN-China Think Tank Seminar here Tuesday. Nasharuddin was asked whether Kuala Lumpur should review the commitment to accept the Syrian refugees made by Prime Minister Najib Razak at the United Nations General Assembly recently. This follows what was reported as the recovery of a Syrian passport next to the body of one of the attackers in Friday's deadly attacks in Paris, prompting concern over whether the alleged gunmen had entered France as a refugee. However, the passport was later verified to be fake. There have been calls for western governments to review their policy on accepting the refugees who have been making their way to Europe in large numbers from troubled Middle Eastern countries. Nasharuddin said Malaysia had experience in handling migrants. "And we need to accept these migrants to prove our openness and for the sake of humanity," he said. -- BERNAMA