Malaysia intercepts boat carrying Rohingya Muslims

A boat carrying dozens of Rohingya from Myanmar arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday and the members of the stateless Muslim minority will be allowed to enter the country, authorities said.

The vessel carrying 56 people was intercepted by Malaysian maritime authorities near the northwestern island of Langkawi, said navy chief Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin.

"All 56 passengers, mostly children and women, are safe but tired and hungry," said the navy chief.

"The boat and its passengers will be handed over... to the immigration authorities."

The navy and coastguard had stepped up patrols in the area after the boat briefly stopped on an island off Thailand's western coast on Sunday, and the passengers said they were en route to Malaysia.

Ethnic cleansing

According to UN and other rights groups, some 700,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya fled their homes in Rakhine into Bangladesh after militant attacks in August last year sparked a military crackdown that the United Nations and Western countries have said constitutes ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar rejects that charge, saying its forces have been waging a legitimate campaign against "terrorists" who attacked government forces.

However, the marginalisation and abuse of Rohingya in Myanmar has a long history, which has not been tempered by the country's painful transition away from military rule to include civilian governance.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar by sea following an outbreak of sectarian violence in Rakhine in 2012, some falling prey to human traffickers. 

The exodus then peaked in 2015, when an estimated 25,000 people fled across the Andaman Sea for Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, many drowning in unsafe and overloaded boats.

Due to the 2016 outbreak of violence in Myanmar, rights groups expect another surge in Rohingya boats reaching Southeast Asia, during the months the seas are calmer, even if not at the levels of three years ago.

There are nearly 70,000 Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers living in Malaysia, according to the most recent statistics from the UN refugee agency.