The Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation Malaysia (Merhom) has welcomed Putrajaya's decision to form a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate the existence of human trafficking camps and graves in Wang Kelian, Perlis.

“We hope this will bring justice to those who lost their lives in order to survive from genocide back home,” Merhom president Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani said in a statement this morning.

Zafar said while the people are not aware of the human trafficking camps in Wang Kelian, this was not a secret to the Rohingya who fled persecution in Myanmar.

“They witnessed everything in the trafficking camps. Torture, shooting, cries of women and children, sickness, hunger, weakness, hopelessness and death.

“It was a nightmare that nobody can imagine. We hope the establishment of the RCI will bring justice to them and their families,” he added.

Zafar also thanked the Malaysian government for voicing the plight of the Rohingya at local and international levels.

“We hope the Malaysian government, under the leadership of (Prime Minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad, will continue to put pressure at the international level to stop the Rohingya genocide.

“We love our country. We want to return home. However, we cannot return when genocide is still ongoing,” he added.

On Jan 27, Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the RCI would be given six months to probe the matter.

In May 2015, police announced the discovery of human trafficking camps and mass graves in Wang Kelian.