The government will allow a 20-year-old Acehnese tsunami survivor to remain in the country after he was rescued from the Indian Ocean, reports said today.

Rizal Shahputra, from the devastated town of Meulaboh in Indonesia's Aceh province which was hardest hit by the Dec 26 tsunamis, is recovering in a Malaysian hospital after being rescued on Monday evening by a container vessel.

Shattered by the total destruction of his village, and with his parents and two siblings feared to have perished, he had said there was nothing left for him to return to in Aceh.

"I have nothing left to go back to, I want to remain here," Rizal was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times on Friday.

"He is most welcome to start anew and work here," Home Minister Azmi Khalid was quoted as telling the New Straits Times .

Azmi praised Rizal's determination to live after floating at sea for more than a week.

"Such determination is a rare trait in a person, especially when faced with extreme hardship," he said. "His character is a perfect example. There are not many individuals out there with such characteristics.

"We support employers to take him in. I will also personally assist him," he said.

"I think there will be no problem in granting his request. I will leave it to the Indonesian embassy to provide him with the proper documents so that we can meet his request," Azmi was quoted as saying by The Star .

Flood of similar requests?

Azmi said he did not believe that the gesture by the Malaysian government in this case would result in a flood of similar requests.

"Aceh would be bustling with infrastructure development soon. Many of them would not be faced with unemployment for long as their skills would be much needed in the construction of buildings and roads there," he said.

Rizal is the second tsunami survivor rescued by Malaysian ships after housewife Malawati Daud was plucked out a week ago by a fishing boat after drifting in the sea for five days.

Malawati, 23, who is pregnant, survived by eating fruit off an uprooted palm trunk she was clinging to and floating packets of instant noodles.

She is currently receiving treatment and counselling in a hospital in northern Penang state.