Jakarta - Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva reaffirmed to Indonesian leaders on Friday the need for a "regional" solution to the fate of hundreds of Muslim boatpeople from Burma who have washed up in neighbouring nations in recent months.
"Essentially, it is a regional problem and must be dealt at a regional level," Mr Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters after meeting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here.
Regional governments would discuss the issue at a March meeting of the Bali Proces, a ministerial-level forum co-chaired by Indonesia and Australia on people-smuggling and human trafficking, he said.
"All affected countries must work together to make sure that our national security is protected and at the same time that these people are treated in a humane way with their rights and their dignity respected," he added.
Thailand has faced criticism over claims that its security forces abused migrants from the Rohingya minority, hundreds of whom have been rescued in Indian and Indonesian waters in recent weeks.
Mr Abhisit has also said the Rohingya will be discussed at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Thailand starting on Feb 27.
President Yudhoyono said Indonesia will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to roughly 400 Rohingya migrants found by fishermen off the northern tip of Sumatra island on January 7 and February 2.
"We will investigate where they come from, what sort of humanitarian assistance to give them. And with the International Organization for Migration, (UN refugee agency) UNHCR and Southeast Asian nations, we will find a more permanent solution to the plight of the 400 found in Aceh," the president said.
Mr Abhisit appeared to admit in a television interview last week that the kingdom's authorities had towed the Rohingya out to sea but later said he was only referring to Thai authorities letting them drift elsewhere.
Photographs apparently showing the Thai army towing refugees in boats and lining Rohingya men up on a beach have been published in the international media this year.
Source: Bangkok Post
