MAPIM Urges Malaysian Authorities to Consider Repatriating Rohingya Refugees to Myanmar

Kuala Lumpur, MINA – The Malaysian association of mass organizations asked the country’s authorities to consider a plan to repatriate Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.

President of the Malaysian Islamic Organizations Consultative Assembly (MAPIM) Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid said the deportation of Rohingya amid the coup by the Myanmar army created unsafe conditions for the refugees.

“Their fate is not only uncertain and unsafe when the Myanmar army returns to power, but they will be faced with life-threatening threats due to the increasingly tense situation in Myanmar,” said Mohd Azmi in his statement as quoted by Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.

Mohd Azmi conveyed that in overcoming the problem of illegal immigrants in Malaysia, it is necessary to pay attention to the factor of mental safety because Rohingya who fled because of the threat of a military attack in Myanmar.

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The Malaysian government itself, he said, had long said the tyranny of ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya was a crime against humanity by the military and fanatical Buddhist nationalists in Myanmar.

“Therefore, forcibly sending them home to Myanmar, which shows no sign of their safety, is inconsistent and in accordance with the original provisions,” said Mohd Azmi.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Authority ensures that it does not include Rohingya refugees who are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the plan to repatriate 1,200 Myanmar citizens.

In his statement on Monday evening, the Director General of Malaysian Immigration Khairul Dzaimee Daud said that the repatriation of Myanmar citizens is the deportation of ordinary immigrants using Malaysian Navy ships.

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He said the Myanmar citizens involved in the repatriation consisted of those detained at the immigration depot for committing various offenses, including lack of identity documents, overstaying periods and abuse of visit permits.

Khairul Dzaimee said during the Covid-19 pandemic period from January to December last year, the Immigration Department had deported a total of 37,038 immigrants.

They consisted of 17,002 Indonesians; Bangladesh (5,450 people); Myanmar (3,322); Thailand (2,358), Pakistan (1,493) and the rest from other countries, “he said. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)