ON CRISIS

Hazrat Shah Amanat Airport in the coastal seaport city of Chittagong, where most of the refugees are located.

The rest of the team members flew to Dhaka on a commercial flight yesterday evening.

Najib said a batch of 35 iM4U volunteers would be sent on the humanitarian mission.

The team had received permission from the Bangladeshi government to deliver aid directly to the refugees.

The prime minister earlier led prayers before take-off and addressed mission members.

Present was Armed Forces chief General Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor.

Najib said Malaysia would do its best to assist Bangladesh in providing aid to the increasing number of refugees.

“The Bangladeshi high commissioner to Malaysia said about 350,000 Rohingya refugees have escaped to Bangladesh. The scale of the disaster is immense as there were already 500,000 Rohingya refugees in the country.”

He said a reconnaissance team would be sent to Dhaka tomorrow to discuss with the Bangladeshi government subsequent measures needed to assist the refugees.

Asked if the Nobel Peace Award given to Myanmar’s First State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi should be withdrawn, Najib said the issue was a separate matter.

“That is a separate issue, but the response by the Myanmar government (to the international outcry) is rather disappointing.”

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Page 1 pic: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Armed Forces chief General Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor (second from right) performing prayers before sending off a Bangladeshbound humanitarian mission at the Subang airbase yesterday.