Myanmar agrees to take 5,000 Rohingya refugees from Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Myanmar has agreed to take 5,000 Rohingya asylum seekers currently in Malaysia, where there has recently been tension between the refugees and local communities.

Speaking at a campaign rally on Wednesday ahead of regional elections in Negeri Sembilan state this weekend, Anwar said good relations with Myanmar had enabled the countries to negotiate on the issue.

"We have good relations with Myanmar. They have now agreed to take 5,000 Rohingya from Malaysia," Anwar said, without elaborating further.

Malaysian home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told reporters his ministry has been tasked with locating, identifying and screening the refugees.

He said Malaysia's foreign ministry will then hold discussions with Myanmar on the return of the 5,000 Rohingya people.

Muslim-majority Malaysia has long been seen as a safe haven for Rohingya fleeing persecution in the largely Buddhist Myanmar, with around 126,000 Rohingya registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia as of the end of February.

For decades, Rohingya have been denied citizenship in Myanmar, leading to them becoming the world's largest stateless population, according to the U.N.

Myanmar's presidential office did not respond on Thursday to a request for comment.

The UNHCR said under international law, no person should be sent to a country where their rights or freedoms may be at risk.

"Given the ongoing conflict across Myanmar, current conditions do not support the safe and sustainable return of refugees from Myanmar," it said in an emailed response to Reuters.

"UNHCR stands ready to engage with relevant authorities on protection safeguards."

REFUGEE TENSIONS

Malaysian authorities this week detained more than 100 Rohingya Muslim refugees who had gathered outside the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur, releasing them some days later following a review of their documentation.

The refugees, who police said all possessed valid UNHCR documents, had sought assistance from the U.N. agency after claiming they had been evicted from their homes by residents in northern Penang state.

Rohingya refugees in Malaysia have been exposed to greater harassment and scrutiny, including the closure of community schools, in recent months after being targeted by online hate speech and misinformation.

Malaysia, which is not a signatory to the U.N. refugee convention and regards asylum seekers as illegal migrants, earlier this month asked the UNHCR to temporarily stop registering new refugees in the country as it builds a domestic system to manage asylum seekers.

Its foreign minister also called for a review of the UNHCR's domestic operations unless it imposed stricter controls on issuing refugee documents.

In 2021, Malaysia deported more than 1,000 Myanmar nationals by ship, despite a court-ordered halt and rights groups saying the repatriation exercise had included asylum seekers and UNHCR-registered refugees.

-Reporting by Ashley Tang and Danial Azhar; Editing by John Mair/Reuters