On Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021, over 1,000 refugees seeking asylum in Malaysia were sent back to Myanmar on three military ships. Just a few hours earlier, the Kuala Lumpur High Court had granted a stay for the migrants after Amnesty International and Asylum Request applied to suspend the deportation plan due to safety reasons. Malaysia’s Immigration Department Director Khairul Dzaimee Daud and the prime minister both declined to offer a reason for why the refugees were repatriated to Myanmar. The only thing Khairul did mention was that there were no Rohingya refugees in the deported group after lawmakers questioned whether contempt of the court resulted in the deportation. The refugee agency has been worrying about deportation on unregistered asylees for a while, as it has been over a year since they were allowed to interview the detainees about their status. 

This is not the first time Malaysia has mistreated those seeking asylum in the country. It has been going on for a while. Last summer, Phil Robertson, the Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, criticized the Malaysian government’s handling of the refugee crisis by saying, “Malaysia is unlawfully treating as criminals people who fled atrocities in Myanmar.” Malaysian authorities have repeatedly treated victims of the Rohingya refugee crisis as criminals, often prosecuting them for illegal entry into Malaysia. However, the refugees have a right to protection and asylum under international law.

Originally, Malaysia was sending boatloads of Rohingya victims back to sea, completely denying their lawful entry into the country. Now, the asylees are able to get into the country, but many of them are being detained for “unlawful” entry. Others are living in migrant centers that are very poorly kept and are in conditions that do not warrant human accommodation. Those who have been prosecuted face charges that are a nightmare to those escaping genocide. This includes a fine of RM 10,000 (2,347 U.S. dollars), five years in prison, and six lashes of the cane. “Malaysia’s jailing of Rohingya refugees is bad enough, but subjecting them to the torture of caning shows little regard for their basic humanity,” Human Rights Watch reports. 

The Rohingya crisis has been ongoing since August of 2017. Myanmar’s government has been taking deadly actions on its Rohingya Muslims, one of the country’s most discriminated against ethnic minorities, in an act of racial purification. The Buddhist-centered government has seen Rohingyas as nothing but illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and have denied their Myanmar citizenship. Buddhist mobs have burned down villages and have killed several citizens. Almost 7,000 Rohingyans were killed in a month after violence ensued, almost 1,000 of them being children under the age of five. According to Amnesty International, mobs also raped and abused Rohingya women and young girls. The United Nations labeled the acts as an abhorrent display of ethnic cleansing. As a result of violence, many fled to neighboring countries, mainly Bangladesh. Others stayed in Myanmar and have migrated to the northern territories of Rakhine, another ethnic minority.

In March of 2019, Bangladesh stated that it would stop accepting Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Consequently, Rohingyas looked to Malaysia as a place of refuge instead. Back in 2018, the Bangladeshi government had said they would send back refugees already in the country; however, no action was taken in response to the statement. Refugees that were considering going back said they would do so only if guaranteed citizenship. Myanmar made no statement on the request. Even if Rohingyas wanted to go back to Myanmar, they would not be able to, as Buddhist mobs had burned down their villages. 

The Malaysian government needs to explain the reasons for expelling their refugees from Myanmar. Even if the asylees were not Rohingya, which is highly unlikely, all individuals escaping persecution and violence are protected under international law. More non-governmental organizations need to call attention to this unlawful act, just like the Human Rights Watch did. A country should not discriminate about who they want in their country and who they want to debar.