Last month, National Security Council (MKN) director-general Rodzi Md Saad suggested shutting down the UNHCR office in Malaysia to allow Putrajaya to manage refugees in the country without foreign interference.
In response to a query from Charles Santiago (PH-Klang) for Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to clarify Rodzi’s proposal, special functions minister Abd Latiff Ahmad confirmed that such a transition was in the works.
“However, this transition needs to be implemented with due diligence to ensure that government agencies are truly prepared to take over the role played by the UNHCR,” Latiff said in a parliamentary written reply.
“And with that, there will no longer be a need for a UNHCR office in Malaysia.
“The UNHCR offices in Thailand or Indonesia can play the other roles, as required by UNHCR for refugees in Malaysia.”
Latiff explained that the UNHCR office in Malaysia was set up after an invitation to manage Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s. He said all these refugees had since returned to Vietnam or been relocated to a third country.
He said the office was also to manage resettlement of refugees or asylum seekers to a third country or repatriation to the country of origin.
However, he said, it was found that the presence of refugees, especially those from Myanmar, has “continuously increased”, with repatriation to their countries of origin or third countries “very low”.
Latiff also said the presence of a UNHCR office in Malaysia was seen to have been a factor which led to the influx of migrants to Malaysia to obtain a UNHCR card and stay in the country.
There were some 183,430 refugees and asylum seekers registered with UNHCR Malaysia as of last month, including some 48,010 children.
The UNHCR Malaysia website states that some 157,910 people are from Myanmar, comprising of 105,870 Rohingyas, 23,190 Chins and 28,840 other ethnic groups from conflict-affected areas or fleeing persecution in Myanmar.
The remaining 25,510 are refugees and asylum seekers from 50 countries fleeing war and persecution.