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Hadi Azmi

Malaysia is set to evacuate its citizens from Bangladesh on Tuesday amid the deadly riots that have paralysed the South Asian country, responding to urgent pleas from concerned parents of students trapped in the chaos.
After meeting the parents of the affected students at his office on Monday, Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said that all Malaysians in Bangladesh would be evacuated.
“We are making arrangements with the Bangladesh government to ensure Malaysians are given security to go to the High Commissioner building tonight safely and the airport tomorrow,” Hasan told the press after the meeting, adding that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had “given his approval and blessing for us to move ahead with this evacuation plan”.
According to Hasan, 124 Malaysian students in Bangladeshi universities remain trapped in the capital city of Dhaka and neighbouring Mymensingh.
The minister said they were getting a widebody plane with a capacity of 350 to make room for extra evacuees since there are more Malaysians not registered with the embassy.


Hasan said the plane would reach Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport at 10am on Tuesday to ferry the Malaysian citizens back to Kuala Lumpur.
“I hope this will put all assumptions to rest, especially those that thought the government and ministry are not doing anything,” he added.
Bangladesh has faced weeks of nationwide protests triggered by the reintroduction of a quota policy that reserved 30 per cent of all civil service jobs for the descendants of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.
The protests have become increasingly violent as demonstrators continue to clash with the police and pro-government forces. The death toll from the riots has increased dramatically in the last few days, rising to at least 151 people according to the latest hospital data.
On Saturday, the Dhaka government ordered all offices, schools and other institutions to stay closed for two days. It has also extended a nationwide internet blackout and a curfew that only allows people to leave their homes for two hours in the afternoon to shop for necessities.
On Sunday, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court issued a ruling vastly reducing the percentage of jobs reserved under the quota system, but it is not yet clear whether the decision will be enough to end the demonstrations.

So far only India has evacuated its citizens from Bangladesh while the US State Department is advising its citizens to remain vigilant, adding that the airport is “operating close to normal” and flight tickets will act as a curfew pass.
Nubli Hashim, father of a Malaysian student in Dhaka, said he was surprised by the swift decision and thanked the government. “We have only filed a request today and even before meeting the minister, we were told that a plane will be flown to Bangladesh,” Nubli told the press.
Over the weekend, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry was hammered with questions over plans to evacuate students after reports of escalating violence started to trickle back to Kuala Lumpur from Dhaka via SMS.
Activist Shakira Zen, who is communicating with her friends in Dhaka and Mymensingh, a city north of the capital, said students there were hunkering down in their accommodation with dwindling food and cash supplies as most services remained offline.
“SMS is the only way to communicate. I shared the news link with them yesterday, and they cannot open it and ask me to copy the text instead,” Shakira told This Week in Asia.
She added that the Foreign Ministry seemed to be unaware of the students’ whereabouts, with some families having received phone calls from the government asking about their children’s condition and last contacts.
The communication gap has led to panic and confusion online, with competing claims over the situation of Malaysian students, particularly over what the High Commission of Malaysia was doing to assist them.

On Sunday, the foreign ministry acknowledged the public’s concern, saying it was exploring evacuation “if necessary” and stressing that the safety and security of Malaysians abroad was a top priority.
“While closely assessing the latest developments, the ministry and the High Commission are considering all available options, including an evacuation, if necessary,” the foreign ministry said.
Sources familiar with such operations told This Week in Asia that Malaysia reserves evacuation for “perilous situations”.
“Before that, everyone is responsible for their own travel decisions, at their own cost,” said the government source, who asked for anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the press.
In 2022, This Week in Asia reported that Malaysian diplomats in Ukraine scrambled to flee their embassy in Kyiv and travelled by land to Poland after Russia began its invasion. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri and Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah were widely panned for the evacuation, which critics said was poorly planned due to their dismissive stance towards Western intelligence about Moscow’s imminent military action.


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Malaysia sending plane to evacuate citizens from Bangladesh amid deadly riots

Angry protesters set a Mirpur police box on fire as demonstrators clash with police and pro-government supporters during ongoing quota students protests in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 18.  Photo: EPA-EFE

Lawyers address reporters outside Bangladesh’s Supreme Court in Dhaka on July 21. Photo: AP

Bangladeshi police check local citizens following violent protests in Dhaka on July 22. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Police detains a man who was not leaving the University of Dhaka premises, a day after the clash between Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party Bangladesh Awami League, and anti-quota protesters, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 17, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Anti-quota supporters clash with police and Awami League supporters at the Rampura area in Dhaka, Bangladesh on July 18. Photo: Reuters

Students protesting against quotas in government jobs offer prayers over symbolic coffins of victims, a day after they died in a clash with police personnel, during an absentee funeral prayer ceremony at Dhaka University on July 17. Photo: AFP

Students wearing headbands with Bangladesh’s national flag shout slogans during a protest at Dhaka University on July 17. Photo: AFP

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Prospective migrants and their families gather outside Dhaka airport last Friday, awaiting updates about their tickets. Photo: Redwan Ahmed

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Mohammad Anwar, 32, from Mymensingh district, finds out at Dhaka’s airport that his ticket to Malaysia is fake. Photo: Redwan Ahmed

Illegal foreign workers from Bangladesh are arrested by Malaysia’s immigration department during raid in Kuala Lumpur in 2020. Photo: Shutterstock

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Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said citizens would be airlifted following pleas from the parents of students stuck in the South Asian nation


Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said citizens would be airlifted following pleas from the parents of students stuck in the South Asian nation.


Bangladesh

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