Malaysia

Turkey has pledged to add $1 million to efforts by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide humanitarian aid for Rohingya and Bengalese refugees stranded at sea, Anadolu Agency has reported, citing presidency sources. 

Malaysia's prime minister said May 21 he has ordered the navy and the coast guard to comb the sea to look for stranded migrants, the first country to announce it will search for the refugees in desperate need of help instead of waiting for them to wash up on Southeast Asia's shores.

Indonesia and Malaysia agreed May 20 to provide temporary shelter to thousands of migrants stranded at sea, the first breakthrough in the humanitarian crisis confronting Southeast Asia after weeks of reluctance by the region's nations to take responsibility.

Indonesia said on May 19 that the migrant boat crisis was a problem for all of Southeast Asia ahead of key regional talks, as Jakarta and other countries came under more pressure to let the boatpeople land.  

The Turkish navy is carrying out efforts to reach Rohingya Muslims stranded in boats off the coast of Thailand and Malaysia, Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu said.

Turkish companies made foreign direct investments (FDI) worth a total of $6.8 billion in 2014, an increase of 89 percent from the previous year, according to a report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on May 18.

The Philippines said May 19 it was ready to help Rohingya and Bangladeshi boatpeople, as its Southeast Asian neighbours faced outrage for turning them away.

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was sworn into Malaysia's parliament as opposition leader on May 18 after winning the seat vacated by her husband Anwar Ibrahim when he was jailed on a sodomy conviction, media reports said.

The Indonesian navy prevented a suspected migrant boat from entering the country's waters at the weekend after the arrival of hundreds of Rohingya and Bangladeshis and has stepped up patrols in the area, the military said May 18.

Malaysia said on May 17 that its foreign minister would meet his Indonesian and Thai counterparts to discuss the surge in stricken boatpeople from Bangladesh and Myanmar flooding to Southeast Asia.
 
Foreign Minister Anifah Aman was to meet Indonesia's Retno Marsudi in the Malaysian city of Kota Kinabalu on May 18, a government official said.