* An estimated 2,000 Rohingya attended religious event
* Authorities, U.N. refugee agency trying to identify them
(Adds rights group's comments)
By Krishna N. Das and A. Ananthalakshmi
KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 (Reuters) - Malaysian authorities are
trying to track down an estimated 2,000 Rohingya who attended a
Muslim gathering that led to a spike in coronavirus cases across
Southeast Asia, a security source and two other people familiar
with the matter said.
The head of a refugee rights group said her checks suggested
that "several hundred" Rohingya attended the gathering late last
month at a mosque on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.
More than 100,000 Rohingya live in Malaysia after fleeing
Myanmar, but they are considered illegal immigrants.
Their status would likely make them reluctant to identify
themselves to get tested for the coronavirus even if they showed
symptoms, other sources in the Rohingya community said.
Malaysia's search for the Rohingya highlights the challenge
for governments trying to track the virus among communities
living without official papers and wary of authorities.
The religious gathering was attended by some 16,000 people.
As well as the Rohingya and other refugees and undocumented
migrants, about 1,500 Muslims from across Asia attended.
More than 670 coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia have been
linked to the gathering, including 576 in Malaysia, 61 in
Brunei, 22 in Cambodia, five in Singapore, seven in Thailand,
and one each in Vietnam and the Philippines.
Malaysia has 900 coronavirus cases in all, the highest in
Southeast Asia.
Malaysian authorities have been tracking down the
participants but say they have been unable to find about 4,000
of them.
Lilianne Fan, chair of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights
Network's Rohingya Working Group, said authorities including the
police, the U.N. refugee agency and NGOs were working to
identify those who attended the event or who have been exposed
to people who attended.
Although the refugee community has been largely cooperating,
some were reluctant to go for tests, fearing arrest, she told
Reuters, adding that many more Burmese Muslim refugees, another
ethnic group from Myanmar like the Rohingya, attended the event.
"One important and urgent step that should be taken is for
the government to publicly come out to state that all
undocumented migrants and refugees need not fear arrest and
detention, and that all positive cases will be given free
medical treatment and not be subject to arrest at hospitals,"
Fan said.
Police declined to comment and directed queries to the
Malaysian National Security Council under the prime minister's
office. It could not be reached for comment.
'SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION'
The government had asked the police criminal investigation
division to look for the missing participants, the security
source said.
Malaysia implemented travel curbs and shut down
non-essential businesses from Wednesday for two weeks to contain
the coronavirus after the spike in cases linked to the mosque
gathering. One person who attended the gathering died from the
virus this week.
Participants spent most of their time crowded in the mosque
for the four-day event, but some went to restaurants, malls and
Kuala Lumpur's Petronas twin towers, according to Reuters
interviews with people who attended and social media posts.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Malaysia said it
was working with the Ministry of Health to ensure that all
refugee and asylum-seeking communities were included in
government response measures.
The Ministry of Health did not respond to requests for
comment.
A 39-year-old Rohingya construction worker and father of
four, who lives in the Malaysian state of Penang, said he spent
days at the mosque event with nearly two dozen Rohingya friends.
He said none of them was showing symptoms and he went to a
hospital but was not tested.
"Everything's fine, no fever, nothing," he said.
Salman, a Bangladeshi construction worker who lives near the
mosque, said he and many other Bangladeshis went to the
gathering. His coronavirus test was negative but the hospital
was calling him daily to check for symptoms.