‘Use NS camps to shelter migrants’

GEORGE TOWN: The state government has suggested that vacant National Service training camps be used as temporary shelters for the Rohingya migrants.

There are four such camps in Penang, and the state is ready to help in providing much needed shelter, Penang Welfare and Caring Society Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh told The Star.

There are 85 such camps nationwide, all of them under the Defence Ministry, and Phee said it was within the ministry’s power to use these camps as shelters.

“In Penang, there are two vacant national service camps in Balik Pulau and one each in Sungai Bakap and Machang Bubuk.

“These facilities are suitably designed and securely fenced,” said Phee, who said this was Penang’s idea.

“We can only give ideas, and we are waiting for federal authorities to call us so we can discuss what role Penang can play.

“No one has called us yet,” said Phee.

Phee was commenting on Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s challenge that Penang take in Rohingya and Bangladesh migrants who have landed on Malaysia’s shores.

“Let us not quarrel. Human lives are at stake here, so let’s be constructive,” Phee added.

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