Ramasamy said if National Security Council (MKN) director-general Rodzi Md Saad could mock the UNHCR’s presence in a statement to the media, then it could be perceived that the government was unhappy with the UN agency’s existence in Malaysia.

On Tuesday, Rodzi suggested shutting down the UNHCR office in Malaysia to allow Putrajaya to manage refugees in the country without “foreign interference”.

However, Ramasamy said there was no government agency currently capable of dealing with the “complicated and multi-dimensional problems” of refugees and asylum seekers than the UNHCR.

The Perai assemblyman said the government or the minister concerned must either admonish Rodzi or accept the fact that UNHCR was not welcome in the country.

In a statement, he reiterated that UNHCR was best suited to manage refugees in the country since Malaysia did not formally recognise the status of refugees and asylum seekers.

“Refugees are simply seen from a legal perspective (by the government), whether they have valid documents of entry or not. If they don’t, in most cases, they can be subject to arrest and deportation.

“However, the presence of the UNHCR makes it difficult for the government to apply the blanket law-and-order perspective,” he said.