Refugee Crisis
As of the end of December 2023, there are 185,300 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia. Of these, 107,670 claim to be Rohingya who were forcibly displaced from Myanmar. This number only accounts for registered refugees and does not include the high number of new arrivals and those who have been waiting several years already to get registered. We believe the actual number to be at least 50% higher, and growing every week.
Regardless of origin or identity, all refugees run into the same core problem of legal recognition. Malaysian authorities treat refugees as illegal, as there are no laws relating to their status. They arrive in Malaysia without proper identification, entering the country undocumented and would be regarded as illegal immigrants under the Immigration Act 1959/63.
As “illegal immigrants”, the refugees are mostly stuck in limbo. They are unable to obtain legal work or go to school. Aside from that, these refugees are also at the risk of detention and deportation. This is further exacerbated by racism and xenophobia problems that target refugees. . The process of registration is exceedingly slow due to the huge number of asylum seekers entering the country. Without registration, they constantly live in fear.
All this forces refugees to rely on what could be called “precarious goodwill: an unsustainable compassion which relies heavily on the efforts of civil society; never guaranteed, safe, nor formally rolled out as rules and laws.”
People are fleeing for a reason. And that whether we like it or not, people need to find refuge. And no matter what policies are in place to deter migration, to stop migration, it won’t work. Especially when survival is on the line. It won’t work if what you need is food on the table. You can have the strongest deterrence policies, have a deportation regime, have immigration detention centers, but you are not going to stop people who are desperate for survival and for sanctuary. (Joshua Low)
The Rohingya
The Rohingya who are the largest refugee group in Malaysia. They are also predominantly Muslims. They are in Malaysia because they’ve historically suffered religious persecution the denial of citizenship and extreme violence in the hands of Myanmar’s nationalist state and armed forces, the Tamada in Rakhine State.
The Rohingya, are trapped in what a scholar has called a multipolar conflict between themselves, the minority Buddhist Rakhines and the majority Bermans where each group have historically mutually existential fears and mistrust of one another.
The plight of the Rohingya can also be traced to Myanmar’s 1982 citizenship law which straight out deprived them of the place in the country by excluding them from the official 135 national races.
And then the largest conflict and source of fleeing Rohingya happened in 2017 when 900,000 Rohingya fled to the neighboring Bangladesh and other countries when the government carried out vicious attacks all across Rakine state in an act of ethnic cleansing.