Malaysia begins first wave of voluntary returns for Myanmar migrants

Police-escorted buses arrived at the Majlis Perbandaran Manjung stadium near the Lumut naval base, marking the first group of 5,000 Myanmar nationals slated for voluntary repatriation from Malaysian detention centres. Authorities will process the migrants before transferring them to the nearby naval base for shipment back to Myanmar, though they have not revealed how many are Rohingya, a group that makes up two-thirds of the 190,000 Myanmar refugees in the country.

The initiative follows Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's July declaration that Myanmar had agreed to accept 5,000 refugees, a plan that drew criticism from rights groups after more than 100 Rohingya were detained for protesting an eviction in Penang. Myanmar recently pledged “safe and dignified” returns after UN pressure, and Anwar intends to invite Myanmar’s coup leader-turned-civilian president Min Aung Hlaing for an official visit to accelerate the process.

Malaysia does not sign the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not formally recognise refugee status, complicating the legal framework for such returns. Online disinformation targeting Rohingya refugees in Malaysia has been reported, fueling xenophobia amid the repatriation effort.