Anifah clarifies on Rohingyas accepted by M'sia

NEW YORK: The Foreign Ministry clarified that Dato' Sri Anifah Aman was referring to the irregular migrants of Rohingya descent who were allowed into Malaysia on humanitarian grounds in May 2015, on the condition that they be returned home or resettled in third countries when he referred to Malaysia's acceptance of these refugees. "They were drifting and left abandoned on boats in the Andaman Sea due to desperation in Rakhine State," it said commenting on his speech in a closed-door OIC session.

Meanwhile, Anifah on Thursday signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Political Support to Prosecute the Perpetrators of the Downing of MH17.

The signing ceremony took place at the Official Residence of the Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the United Nations in New York, at the margins of the ongoing 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly.

The Foreign Ministers of Australia (Julie Bishop), Belgium (Didier Reynders), the Netherlands (Bert Koenders) and Ukraine (Pavlo Klimkin) signed the MoU on behalf of their respective governments.

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With the signing of the MoU, Anifah said, all the five countries, which established the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to coordinate the criminal investigation on the downing of the MH17, reaffirmed their common resolve to seek justice and accountability, by ensuring that the perpetrators are held to account as demanded by the UN Security Council.

Agreeing to prosecute the perpetrators of the downing of Flight MH17, in the Netherlands, the JIT countries confirmed that they will assist one another should any of them face any kind of external pressure to undermine the prosecution or the cooperation among them. Anifah assured that Malaysia is unwavering in its commitment to prosecute the perpetrators of the MH17's downing and secure justice for all the victims, their families and loved ones.

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He said Malaysia is pleased with the Dutch-led JIT investigations so far, and is confident that national prosecution under the Dutch law is the most viable option to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"Malaysia also hopes that this first step towards prosecuting the perpetrators will bring some measure of comfort and hope to the families and next-of-kin (NOK) of those lost in this July 17, 2014 tragedy," he added. - Mary Chin

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