The government is holding fast to the non-refoulement principle in its effort to help Rohingya asylum seekers in Malaysia, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim.

Non-refoulement is a fundamental principle of international law which forbids a country receiving asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in likely danger of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

“The government is well aware that the aid extended (to them) is actually beyond what is provided by other countries.

“However, this aid is given based on humanitarian grounds, whereby the government is striving to help the Rohingya (community in Malaysia) by providing various forms of assistance until they are resettled in third countries or repatriated," Shahidan (photo) said during the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Negara sitting here today.

He said as of Oct 31, there were 63,814 Rohingya refugees in the country, as compared to 62,153  the previous month.

Shahidan said currently the government and several NGOs were actively sending humanitarian aid to the Rohingya refugees camped in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

He said the government had also set up a 50-bed field hospital in Cox's Bazar, which could accommodate 150 patients at any one time and is equipped with an operation theatre, X-ray room and special room for mothers and children.

- Bernama