Malaysia sends 1,476 Myanmar nationals home despite UN warnings over safety

Malaysia began repatriating Myanmar nationals under a voluntary programme despite warnings from the United Nations refugee agency and rights groups that conditions in Myanmar remain unsafe.The first group of 1,476 people began their journey and are among 5,000 Myanmar nationals who Malaysia plans to repatriate in stages, news agency AP reported. According to Malaysia's home ministry, 10,388 Myanmar nationals were being held at immigration detention centres across the country as of August 15.A ministry official confirmed the repatriation. Buses believed to be carrying returnees arrived at a stadium in Manjung in central Perak state amid tight security. Ships believed to be from Myanmar were docked at the nearby Lumut naval base.The ministry said those in the first group had agreed to return voluntarily and would be transported using two Myanmar navy warships and a hospital ship. Details about their identities and individual circumstances were not immediately available.Myanmar has been facing armed conflict and political instability since the military seized power in 2021.The UN refugee agency and rights groups have urged caution over the repatriation programme, saying security and humanitarian conditions in parts of Myanmar remain volatile and that returnees could face serious risks.Malaysia hosts about 215,600 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR, including around 126,000 Rohingya Muslims. The country is home to one of Southeast Asia's largest refugee communities.Malaysia is not a party to the UN Refugee Convention and treats refugees as undocumented migrants.The Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination and persecution in Myanmar, where authorities have largely denied them citizenship and refused to recognise them as an ethnic group. In Malaysia, they have also faced growing public hostility amid concerns over jobs, public services, security and the size of the refugee population, as well as misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric on social media.Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has defended the repatriation policy as a diplomatic effort to find a long-term solution. He has said Malaysia cannot host refugees indefinitely and that Myanmar must take responsibility for its citizens.Anwar said he plans to invite Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing to Malaysia to discuss the long-running issue of refugees and undocumented migrants.“I am inviting him to say that we can be friends and trade, we can accept Myanmar, but Myanmar must accept them back,” Anwar said in a podcast posted online on September 16. “To me, that's better diplomacy than just shouting angrily at Myanmar.”Myanmar foreign ministry official Han Win Aung said the plan follows repatriation operations in 2021 and 2022, when Myanmar received more than 1,100 of its nationals stranded in Malaysia.He said the repatriation involves genuine Myanmar citizens and is not intended to bring back Rohingya people.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.