Malaysia turns away 2 boats with nearly 300 Rohingya refugees after dozens landed on island

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysian authorities said Saturday that they have turned away two boats carrying nearly 300 people believed to be Muslim Rohingya refugees who were found to have entered the country illegally.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said that it had information that two more boats were attempting to enter the country after a boatload of 196 Rohingya landed early Friday on a beach on the northeastern resort island of Langkawi. They were all detained by authorities.

The agency said authorities had detected the other two boats later Friday off Langkawi. It said the people on the two boats, also believed to be Rohingya, were reported to be exhausted and lacked sufficient food and water supplies.

Maritime Enforcement Agency chief Mohamad Rosli Abdullah said in a statement that assistance has been provided to the two boats, including food supplies and and drinking water, before they were escorted out of the country to continue their journey. It didn't say where the boats were heading, and no further details were given.

There were also no details about where they came from, but many Rohingya living in refugee camps in Bangladesh have been lured by traffickers to leave to seek a better life elsewhere.

Bangladesh hosts more than 1 million Rohingya refugees who fled ethnic and religious violence in Myanmar. Malaysia is a popular destination because of its dominant Malay Muslim population.

Many Rohingya fled a brutal counterinsurgency campaign in 2017 by Myanmar’s security forces, who were accused of committing mass rapes and killings.

While Malaysia has accepted Rohingya in the past on humanitarian grounds, the country has tried to limit numbers because of fears of a mass influx of people arriving on boats.

As of the end of November, there were around 111,410 Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers registered with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Malaysia. This makes up about 58% of the total refugee population in Malaysia.