KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia will not proceed with repatriating 5,000 Myanmar refugees if their lives are found to be at risk upon their return, a government spokesman said on Wednesday, as authorities continued to screen the refugees ahead of the planned handover. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said that the 5,000 to be repatriated were ethnic Rohingya refugees, and that the move was being carried out following rising tensions with local communities in Malaysia.
In the unrest, Rohingya refugee schools across the country were shut down, with many Rohingya children reportedly facing harassment and threats.
Some refugees were also evicted from their homes in the state of Penang and briefly detained by authorities after gathering outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) building in Kuala Lumpur to seek assistance.
The foreign and home ministries are currently reviewing the plan to identify the 5,000 refugees to be returned to Myanmar, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil told a regular press briefing.
"Malaysia, as a responsible country, will not return the 5,000 Myanmar refugees if they would either be persecuted or their lives would be threatened," he said.
"There are several matters that will be studied and discussed with the Myanmar government before the government implements (the plan)," added Fahmi, who is also the government spokesperson.
"The junta government in Myanmar is ready to receive them, but we will study what the criteria are, and if appropriate, we will implement it. The Prime Minister has taken note that we cannot send them back if their lives are threatened. So, there are several matters currently being studied by the Foreign Ministry," he added.
Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organisation, urged the government to reverse its plans, noting that these refugees face persecution and other rights abuses in Myanmar.
"The Malaysian government should show regional leadership in responding to the crisis in Myanmar rather than forcibly returning people who are the targets of the junta's brutality," Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
