Charles Santiago
The Ministry of Home Affairs should be careful about the language it uses to describe Myanmar nationals in Malaysia.
People who have fled genocide, conflict or religious persecution are not “foreign fugitives” simply because they lack regular immigration status. Immigration status and criminality are not interchangeable.
The government says the repatriation programme is voluntary, orderly and based on individual consent.
But a genuinely voluntary return requires more than a signature. People must be able to make an informed decision, free from coercion, with a proper assessment of the risks they face on return.
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It is particularly troubling that the UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, says it had no role in Malaysia’s repatriation process. It has also warned that Myanmar remains unsafe for refugee returns.
Consultation needs to be transparent too. Where is the meaningful engagement with the UNHCR, Suhakam, refugee-led organisations and civil society groups that have worked directly with these communities for years?
These groups hold information about individual vulnerabilities, family circumstances, protection concerns and conditions in Myanmar. Government agencies cannot simply assume they know these things.
If the government has carried out comprehensive screening and concluded that every person returned can safely go home, it should publish the methodology, safeguards and independent verification mechanisms behind that conclusion.
And if the government’s justification is that Myanmar nationals are a ‘financial burden’ or a ‘security threat’, the people of Malaysia deserve evidence. What is the actual public expenditure? Which specific security threats are being referred to?
Are they a bigger threat than the two million undocumented migrant workers who have been in the country for the past 20 years or so?
This is not about asking Malaysia to abandon immigration enforcement or national sovereignty. It is about insisting that sovereignty and the rule of law operate alongside due process, evidence and protection from return to danger.
The return of 1,476 people has now begun. That makes transparency and independent scrutiny even more urgent.
It also makes it harder for Malaysia to claim the moral authority to speak forcefully about the forced displacement of Palestinians, or to champion refugee rights elsewhere. Vulnerable people are being returned to a country where they could face detention, torture, forced conscription or death.
Charles Santiago is a prominent Malaysian politician, economist and human rights advocate who served three terms as the MP for Klang and has twice chaired the National Water Services Commission.
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