Malaysia was faced with a huge humanitarian crisis a few weeks ago when over 1,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees from Myanmar landed illegally on Langkawi Island. And there were about 6,000 more on boats that were kept on Malaysian and Indonesian high seas, with provisions provided by both countries before sending them away to drift. Malaysia has since announced it will provide humanitarian assistance, provided the international community take necessary steps to repatriate them in a year. But shouldn't we have provided humanitarian assistance immediately instead of turning them away? The Evening Edition had the Malaysian Institute of Debating and Public Speaking over to debate the topic.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.