Malaysia begins controversial repatriation of asylum seekers to Myanmar

Malaysia starts disputed repatriation of asylum seekers to Myanmar

The Malaysian government has begun sending back about 5,000 asylum seekers from Myanmar under a contentious arrangement reached with Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing.

Three Myanmar navy ships are due to depart Malaysia later today with the first 1,476 returnees on board.

Rights organisations have denounced the move, warning that those returned could face violence, persecution and forced recruitment into the Myanmar army.

Malaysia says the repatriation is voluntary, but it has prevented the UN refugee agency from meeting or screening the returnees, who have been held in detention centres.

According to Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, the group will include Rohingyas: a persecuted Muslim minority that has sought refuge in Malaysia in large numbers after being driven from Myanmar, where they are not recognised as citizens.

Anwar, whose approval has dropped sharply this year, says he is reacting to rising public hostility toward Malaysia’s large Rohingya population and has no option but to negotiate with the Myanmar government over their return.

But the decision marks a notable change in stance.

Anwar, a former political prisoner, has previously cast himself as a defender of human rights and liberty, and urged greater efforts to assist the Rohingyas. Under his leadership, Malaysia has refused to recognise Min Aung Hlaing’s regime and has been among the strongest voices in South East Asia calling for a negotiated end to Myanmar’s civil war.

First, there has been growing economic pressure on lower-income Malaysians since the Covid pandemic, which has fuelled resentment toward the Rohingyas.

Second, Malaysian politics has been in a febrile state since 2018, when a historic election removed the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the ethnic Malay party that had held power for more than 60 years, ushering in a revolving door of unstable coalition governments.

For many years, Malaysians felt strong public sympathy for their fellow Muslims in Myanmar.

In August 2017, a brutal campaign by the Myanmar military forced three quarters of a million Rohingyas from their homes in Rakhine State into neighbouring Bangladesh. Since then, desperate conditions in Bangladeshi refugee camps have pushed those who can afford it to make the dangerous sea journey to Malaysia in search of safety and work.

Although the Malaysian navy and coastguard have long tried to stop Rohingya boats from landing in Malaysia, many have entered by other routes and were tolerated for a long time. More than 200,000 are now believed to live there, most surviving on basic manual labour.

Public attitudes in Malaysia began to change during the pandemic, which badly damaged the country’s economy. At a time of heightened fear about the new coronavirus, accusations against Rohingya migrants spread on social media, along with calls for their deportation.

In response, the then government toughened its position, saying Malaysia could take no more refugees and ordering raids on communities suspected of sheltering illegal immigrants.

In May, an online complaint alleged that Rohingyas had failed to dispose of animal waste properly after the Muslim Eid al Adha festival, triggering a viral social media campaign that falsely accused Rohingya leaders of demanding land and citizenship in Malaysia.

Soon after, an online petition on Change.org calling for Rohingyas to be expelled from Malaysia gathered more than 400,000 signatures before it was removed.

Given Anwar’s former reputation as a champion of liberal values, he might have been expected to resist this wave of hate and misinformation. He has said the Rohingyas should be treated humanely.

"We can arrest them, but do not beat, intimidate or humiliate them," he said in a recent podcast interview — though human rights groups say Malaysian officials have done exactly that in immigration detention centres.

Even so, Anwar insists the Rohingya must be removed.

"They have clearly become a burden," he said in the same interview. "A security burden, an economic burden and a source of hostility among the people."

Some former supporters accuse him of abandoning his principles. Latheefa Koya, the former head of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission, says his decision is "disgraceful, amoral, and shames the nation in the eyes of the international community".

Anwar, however, is facing intense political pressure. Once described as a perpetual prime minister-in-waiting, he finally became prime minister in 2022, but only by forming an uneasy coalition with his former rivals in UMNO. Since then, his popularity has fallen sharply and his party has lost seats in recent local elections. He must hold a general election by early 2028.

"He is in a corner, at his weakest point", says Tricia Yeoh, Director of the Asian Institute for Policy and Engagement at the University of Nottingham Malaysia.

"He has been forced to make concessions to his UMNO partners... There have been several corruption scandals, and his own party is divided. And after four years of telling voters this is what is required to maintain his fragile coalition, they are no longer willing to go along with that narrative."

Instead, Yeoh says, ethnic Malays, who make up more than half of the electorate, are responding to the long-standing UMNO message that they need special support and protection from the state - the kind of racial politics she says fuels fear and resentment of outsiders.

"It's the same narrative you hear in the rest of the world, about immigrants taking jobs, that we should not be spending our public funds on facilities for them."

However, it remains unclear how any Rohingyas can be sent back to Myanmar, where they are not recognised as citizens.

Rohingyas are not allowed to travel within Myanmar, and may only live in Rakhine State, which borders Bangladesh. But almost all of Rakhine State is now controlled by the insurgent Arakan Army and is under sustained bombardment by the Myanmar air force. On Monday, the day before the repatriation, the Arakan Army said two bombs killed 49 people at a market in the town of Kyauktaw.

The only place Rohingyas could realistically be returned to is the state capital Sittwe - but it is besieged and cut off, and even there Rohingyas are confined to miserable camps that are critically short of food and medicine. Rights groups also fear that any men in the group could be forcibly conscripted into the army to fight in the civil war.

Neither Malaysia nor Myanmar has explained how these major obstacles can be overcome, or how the planned repatriation can be consistent with humanitarian principles.

"We all dream of being able to return home one day," said Nur Sadek, a Rohingya refugee rights advocate, "but we want to return because it is safe and because we choose to — not because we are forced to.

"For me, the most important thing is that Rohingya and other refugees affected by this decision are listened to and treated with dignity."