Malaysia's coast guard will not turn away Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar and is willing to provide them temporary shelter, the maritime agency's chief says.
Rohingya insurgents attacked several police posts and an army base in Myanmar on August 25 and the ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people and triggered an exodus to neighbouring Bangladesh.
An estimated 270,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar in the past two weeks and sought refuge in Bangladesh, where two refugee camps are "bursting at the seams", UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday.
Malaysia, hundreds of kilometres to the south on the Andaman Sea, is likely to see more boat people from Myanmar in coming weeks and months because of the renewed violence, said Zulkifli Abu Bakar, the director-general of the Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency.
However, any such voyage would be hazardous for the next few months because of the annual monsoon.
"We are supposed to provide basic necessities for them to continue their journey and push them away. But at the end of the day, because of humanitarian reasons, we will not be able to do that," Zulkifli told Reuters, adding that no fresh refugees had been seen yet.
Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation already home to more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees, will probably house the new arrivals in immigration detention centres, he said.
Thailand has also said it was preparing to receive people fleeing the fighting in Myanmar.
Malaysia will send a humanitarian mission to help refugees seeking shelter at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, Prime Minister Najib Razak said.
The UN expects a total refugee influx of 300,000, up from a previous estimate of 120,000.
