KUALA LUMPUR: Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman today warned that Malaysia’s refugee situation was a "ticking time bomb" that could worsen political and social problems if the government failed to act firmly and fairly.
He said the country had received hundreds of thousands of refugees on humanitarian grounds but was now shouldering a disproportionate share of the burden.
The former youth and sports minister said Malaysia had about 130,000 officially registered Rohingya refugees, with the unofficial figure exceeding 200,000.
He contrasted this with Indonesia, which he said had fewer than 2,600 Rohingya refugees, Thailand which he said had fewer than 500, and India which had fewer than 20,000.
