COX'S BAZAR: Thousands of Rohingyas fleeing persecution in Myanmar continue to cross the Naf River here on a daily basis since Aug 25 following escalating tensions in their home state of Rakhine, visiting Malaysian Members of Parliament (MPs) were told in a briefing here on Friday.
Reports on the ground estimate that as of Nov 18, new Rohingya refugee arrivals in Cox's Bazar have reached 621,000, with at least 5,500 having arrived between Nov 12 and 18.
The elected representatives who are in the coastal town for an official visit to a refugee camp here, dubbed as the world's largest, were also told that attempts to cross the river which flows into the Bay of Bengal are not always successful, with scores ending up being swept away and drowned.
"While negotiations between the Bangladeshi and Myanmar governments are ongoing, thousands of Rohingya people, many of whom are women and children, continue to flee in a bid to seek refuge here. They walk for days, some from farther places like Rathidong, taking more than two weeks to reach the other side of the Naf River before they can cross.
"These are people who had to leave their homes which had been burnt to the ground. From information we gathered from those recently arrived, the burning of houses happen every day," Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organisations (Mapim) vice-president Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman said.
The joint-briefing by officials from the National Security Council (NSC), and representatives of Malaysian humanitarian organisations who are actively assisting the refugees, was conducted late Friday evening upon the arrival of 13 MPs here, led by Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee.
They are scheduled to visit the Balukhali refugee camp early Saturday morning before witnessing the progress of works to set up a Malaysian field hospital not far from the camp.
Tarmizi said the crossing of the Naf River has become even riskier after the Myanmar government banned small boat owners from taking refugees across the river, forcing the victims to build their own makeshift rafts.
The rafts are usually made of empty water bottles tied together, but many also take a chance with their lives by tying a rope onto somewhat bigger bottles and trying to drift across the river, which is up to 2km wide at its mouth.
"Before the situation escalated, crossing the Naf River only cost between RM2 and RM3 per person. But when the surge of refugees began, sampan owners took advantage of the situation by increasing fees by up to hundreds of ringgit.
"This forced the refugees to sell whatever they had, including livestock, just to pay for the cost to cross the river. But the situation is now much worse, with the ban by the Myanmar government," he said when met after the briefing session.
During the session, the MPs also delivered cash assistance they collected, amounting to RM26,000 to Mapim and Mercy Malaysia.
In his speech, Ronald said that the donation was on top of 25 tonnes of food items contributed by Malaysian companies, which will arrive soon and be distributed to the refugees by the NGOs; as well as cash donations from the Malaysian public.
It was reported that the MPs, together with delegates from the NSC, the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma), the Transport Ministry and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, would be visiting Cox's Bazar for two days for a first-hand look at the condition of Rohingya refugees.
Other MPs in the group are Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi (BN-Sri Gading), Datuk Ago Anak Dagang (BN-Kanowit), Datuk Raimi Unggi (BN-Tenom), Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff (Pas-Rantau Panjang) and Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar (PKR-Tumpat).