Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) – The detention of over a hundred Rohingya asylum seekers outside the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kuala Lumpur has reignited the debate on the management of refugees in Malaysia. Whilst images of the detention of women, men and children have been widely circulated in the Asian media, Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan has stated that the government may reconsider the UNHCR’s presence in the country if the agency continues to refuse closer cooperation with the authorities.
Hasan said he believes it is necessary to subject asylum seekers to more rigorous security checks before issuing registration documents. In the absence of such cooperation from the UNHCR, the minister warned, the system risks turning the country into a “magnet” for new waves of asylum seekers.
Minister Hasan’s comments come after more than a hundred Rohingya refugees gathered outside the UNHCR’s Kuala Lumpur office on 27 July following an overnight bus journey from the state of Penang. The refugees reported that they had been forced to leave their homes following growing tensions with some local residents and had turned to the UN agency in the hope of obtaining protection and assistance for possible resettlement in a third country.
Witnesses quoted by Reuters reported that at around 8.30 pm the police intervened, transferring the asylum seekers onto four lorries bound for the capital’s police headquarters, where they were subjected to checks. The authorities claimed that the transfer from Penang had taken place with the support of state administrations and the National Security Council, and denied that the Rohingya had been forced to leave Penang.
According to the police chief of the Seberang Perai Utara district, Anuar Abdul Rahman, the decision was taken following a deterioration in relations between residents and refugees, caused by the growing presence of the Rohingya community and competition for jobs and economic resources.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim defended the actions of the police, stating that the gathering had caused concern amongst citizens and reiterating that foreign nationals without valid documents remain subject to immigration laws. “No one has the right to occupy part of the city,” he said in a message posted on social media.
Malaysia has not acceded to the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and does not legally recognise refugee status, treating asylum seekers as irregular migrants under national legislation.
Despite this, the country is home to one of the largest Rohingya communities in South-East Asia. UNHCR figures from February recorded over 126,000 Rohingya people, mostly Muslims forced to flee Myanmar’s Rakhine State due to ongoing persecution and violence by the military, and now because of the ongoing civil war in Myanmar. Humanitarian organisations believe, however, that thousands more refugees are not included in the official figures.
The incident in Kuala Lumpur comes against a backdrop of growing hostility towards the Rohingya community. In recent months, there has been a surge in arrests, immigration checks and hate campaigns on social media.
“The Rohingya community in Malaysia lives under a constant threat of arrest and checks, in a climate of fear exacerbated by the wave of hatred circulating on social media,” said Bryony Lau, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch. The UNHCR has also expressed concern over the spread of hate speech and disinformation campaigns targeting refugees, warning that the increasing dehumanisation of the Rohingya community risks leading to violent incidents in everyday life.
