IT is heartwarming to read a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) officer speak of providing assistance once boats full of political and economic refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh cross into Malaysian waters even while they act to prevent the intrusion. From Myanmar comes a minority Muslim ethnic group fleeing persecution by the Buddhist majority; while the latter are those driven by poverty for want of a decent job. These victims of human trafficking were left stranded by human trafficking syndicates in boats drifting without fuel in deep seas with barely any supplies. Illegal migrants though they may be, these unfortunates are very much in need of humanitarian assistance. The point is, however, where should help emanate from; the country of origin or the country where the tide took them? Recently, some 1,000 of them swam to shore and landed on Langkawi after surviving on starvation rations at sea for more than a month; all of them having paid their tormentor thousands of ringgit to be tortured on the high seas.
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