Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak says he will seek help from Myanmar to address the unfolding "humanitarian catastrophe" of illegal migrants flooding Southeast Asia.
He made the comments amid concerns that Myanmar would boycott a May 29 meeting called by Thailand to address the plight of the migrants, most of them ethnic Rohingya fleeing oppression in Myanmar.
Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand have come under increasing pressure to rescue a wave of starving and helpless Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants after triggering outrage by turning them back out to sea with scarce food and nowhere to go.
"We are liasing with the Myanmar government to get their response," Najib was quoted as saying by Malaysia's official Bernama news agency.
"I hope they will give a positive response as the refugees were due to internal problems that we cannot interfere with, but we want to do something before it gets worse," he said.
Myanmar's cooperation is deemed vital to solving the region's biggest influx of boat people since the end of the Vietnam War.
But its government — which considers the Muslim Rohingya minority to be foreign interlopers — has already rejected a Thai call for a regional summit on the issue on May 29, saying it was not Myanmar's problem.
The UN refugee agency has reported a surge in departures from Bay of Bengal ports in recent months.
Activists say 8,000 people may be adrift on horribly overcrowded vessels, with starvation and disease claiming lives, after a Thai crackdown shut down human-trafficking routes and spurred smugglers to abandon men, women and children at sea.
In one of the most grim episodes yet, survivors of a boat that sank off the east coast of Sumatra — among roughly 900 people rescued off Indonesia on Friday — described a bloody struggle for survival between Bangladeshis and Rohingya on board.
About 100 made it to an island off Phangnga in southern Thailand, a local official said on Friday. Many others remain offshore and are afraid to land for fear they will be deported.
Najib said he told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon the situation was "a humanitarian catastrophe".
Despite the rising international outrage, there has yet been no indication that regional authorities were ready to welcome migrant boats and assess any refugee claims.
"[Boat people] will not be allowed to enter our region. If they do, they may create social problems," Gen Moeldoko, head of Indonesia's military, was quoted saying by state-run media.
