He said the department is in the midst of collecting refugees’ information, such as their gender, age and country of origin, and issuing them a refugee card, Bernama reported.

The minister said this followed several decisions made by the Cabinet and the National Security Council (MKN) recently.

“Previously, the government appointed a third party (to manage refugees through the Tracking Refugees Information System – TRIS), but they could only register about 30,000 (individuals) compared with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) data (185,000 people).

“The gap is huge. So MKN decided that the home ministry has to register the refugees. Hence, it starts with granular data. If we want to consider giving them job opportunities, we have to start with the data first.

“Once we get their numbers, instead of them looking for work, we can help them find employment, depending on the government’s policies.

“But we have not gone in that direction yet. What is important now is the data,” he said.

The Ismail Sabri Yaakob-led administration had approved TRIS last July as part of Putrajaya’s plan to take over the management of refugees from UNHCR.

However, deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said yesterday that Putrajaya was considering penning an agreement with the UN agency for its role and responsibility over refugees and asylum seekers here.

Zahid said the responsibility of managing refugees and asylum seekers should not be shifted to the government or local community.