Police Will Ensure Rohingya Refugees Do Not Pose Threat To National Security - IGP

IPOH (Perak, Malaysia), May 23 (Bernama) -- Police have stepped up vigilance towards ensuring that the influx of 7,000 Rohingya refugees does not threaten national security, said Inspector-General of Police, Khalid Abu Bakar. He said this was imperative as the force did not have any records on these refugees. "The police are extra alert during the documentation process (of the refugees) with the Immigration Department to make sure the the nation's security will not be affected," he told a press conference after attending an assembly of civilian staff with the police here Friday. Also present were Crime Prevention and Community Policing Department director Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, Perak Police chief Osman Salleh and CUEPACS president, Azih Muda. Khalid said police were also enhancing security patrols in Malaysian waters in collaboration with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and the Royal Malaysian Navy in light of the influx of refugees from the Indian sub-continent and Myanmar. Khalid also said the location for temporary shelters to accommodate the refugees had yet to be determined. "We are still waiting, I think the National Security Council will hold a meeting with the relevant agencies to discuss a suitable location. "I think the location could be in the northern region as it will be easy to move the refugees. Probably the government can consider Penang in facilitating the agencies to manage the shelters," he said. Commenting on the so-called terrorist group IS, Khalid stated that the police were always on high alert, saying:"Insya-Allah we are doing our best to protect our country from any violent threats and action will be taken on such attempts." Asked about developments on the Sabah abduction case where four armed men kidnapped a local male and female at the Ocean King restaurant in Sandakan on May 14, Khalid said: "I do not want to comment about the victims' location or predicament. Let us handle it, for the sake of their safety." The victims, Thien Nyuk Fun, 50, who is the sister-in-law of the restaurant manager and Bernard Then Ted Fen, 39, a Sarawakian working as an electrical consultant in Cambodia, are reported to have been ferried to an island in the southern Philippines. In KOTA SAMARAHAN (Sarawak), Immigration Department director-general Mustafa Ibrahim said the department is ready to place Rohingya refugees at its detention depot in Belantik, Sik, Kedah if instructed to do so by the government. However, he said so far, there had been no instruction to place these refugees either in the detention depots or other temporary placement centres. Speaking to reporters after presenting Certificates of Excellence to 101 Immigration Department personnel in Sarawak here Friday, Mustafa said the department would assist in providing human resource as well as placement in the depots as well as documentation. In KLANG (Selangor), Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) vice-president, Mohamad Raimi Ab Rahim proposed that ASEAN revise its policy of non-interference as a solution to the Rohingya migrant crisis. He said Malaysia and other ASEAN nations must intervene in the Rohingya issue as well as pressure the Myanmar government to recognise their rights and give them citizenship. He was speaking to reporters after a ceremony to hand over food and cash aid from the Muslim Charity United Kingdom (UK) to about 150 ethnic Rohingya families at the Rohingya Education Centre here Friday. -- BERNAMA