Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: The federal government has challenged the Penang state government to prove its human rights credentials by sheltering the Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees.

A local English daily’s news portal yesterday quoted Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying that the state government should house the migrants, although several locations outside Penang had been identified as suitable temporary camps for the refugees.

“We want to see the sincerity of the Penang government, led by DAP that is partnered with PKR and PAS, which claims to champion human rights and is always asking the government to adopt humanitarian policies.

“They should accept the migrants into Penang,” he was quoted as saying by the news portal.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, however, insisted that Putrajaya place the refugees on land owned by the federal government, citing lack of space in Penang Island and its mainland. He said there had been some 50,000 Rohingya in Penang over the last six years, and the land could not be used to house them.

Meanwhile in George Town, Bernama reported that the Health Ministry is prepared to conduct screening tests on the Rohingya migrants if they are accepted into the country.

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said it is normal for health screening to be conducted on foreign nationals — when they are accepted to live in the country — to ensure they are disease-free.

“What we should ensure is that they are free from diseases like diarrhoea, tuberculosis and leptospirosis,” he told reporters after a dinner in Batu Feringhi here on Saturday night.

In another development, Hilmi said there are 12,800 pharmacists registered in the country, with 60% of them in the public sector. The current ratio of pharmacists to the population is 1 to 2,541, and the target is to reduce it to 1 to 2,000 next year, he added. — The Malaysian Insider

 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 25, 2015.

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