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Malaysia Says It Will Not Deport Rohingya if There Are Risks to Their Safety

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government has announced plans to repatriate around 5,000 Rohingya with Myanmar’s assent.

An aerial view of a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

Malaysia’s government said yesterday that it will not proceed with the planned repatriation of 5,000 Myanmar refugees if their lives are found to be at risk upon their return.

Deputy Foreign Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni announced recently that around 5,000 Myanmar nationals currently in the immigration detention depot are set to be repatriated as soon as Myanmar is ready to accept them – a fact that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim confirmed on July 30.

“We have good ​relations with Myanmar. They have now agreed to take 5,000 Rohingya from Malaysia,” Anwar said during a campaign rally in Negeri Sembilan state.

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil told a press briefing yesterday that the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs are currently reviewing the plan to identify the 5,000 refugees to be returned to Myanmar,

“Malaysia, as ​a responsible country, will not return the 5,000 Myanmar refugees if they would ​either be persecuted or their lives would be threatened,” he said, as per Reuters, adding that there were “several matters” that needed to be discussed with the authorities in Myanmar.

“The Prime ⁠Minister has taken note that we cannot send them back if their lives are threatened,” he said. “So there are several matters ​currently being studied by the Foreign Ministry.”

The deportation plan follows a recent upsurge of xenophobic rhetoric and public hostility toward Rohingya Muslims, particularly online. In the past few months, prominent public figures have since described the Rohingya as “criminals” and “intruders” and likened them to a “cancer” on the country, while Rohingya refugee schools across the country ​have been forced to close due to harassment and ⁠threats. Late last month, more than 100 refugees were detained by the authorities after gathering outside the UNHCR building in Kuala Lumpur to ​seek assistance, after being evicted from their settlement in Penang state.

Rohingya asylum seekers have arrived in Malaysia steadily over the........

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