Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim stated that Myanmar has agreed to take 5,000 Rohingya asylum seekers from Malaysia, according to his announcement. "We have good relations with Myanmar. They have now agreed to take 5,000 refugees," Anwar said.
The announcement covers only a fraction of the 126,144 Rohingya registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia as of the end of February. At that time, Malaysia hosted 215,600 registered refugees and asylum seekers, nearly 194,000 of them from Myanmar, according to UNHCR figures.
Rights groups stated that any movement of refugees into Myanmar must be voluntary and backed by guarantees of safety, legal status and freedom of movement. Experts say the return of 5,000 Rohingya to Myanmar will be a rare attempt to return refugees from a persecuted minority to their country of origin.
Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and are considered the world's largest stateless population. There has recently been tension between the Rohingya refugees and local Malaysian communities.
Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and regards asylum seekers as illegal migrants. In 2021, Malaysia deported more than 1,000 Myanmar nationals by ship. More recently, Malaysian authorities detained more than 100 Rohingya refugees outside the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur, and a group of Rohingya gathered there claiming eviction from their homes in Penang state.
Malaysia has asked the UNHCR to temporarily stop registering new refugees as it builds a domestic system to manage asylum seekers.