Malaysia to send 1,500 Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar next month, despite concerns over safety

Malaysia has confirmed that the first phase of its voluntary repatriation programme for Myanmar refugees will go ahead on September 29, with at least 1,500 people set to be sent back, according to the government.

The plan, first announced by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in July, involves returning 5,000 members of the persecuted Rohingya minority to Myanmar, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from human rights groups and raised concerns among refugee communities in Malaysia.

In a statement, Malaysia's Home Ministry said the repatriation would involve two Myanmar naval warships and a hospital ship. More than 4,000 individuals, mostly ethnic Rohingya, are to be registered under the Refugee Registration Document (DPP) programme, while another 5,000 will go through the voluntary repatriation process agreed with Myanmar's military-backed government.

The ministry also said that as of mid-August, 10,388 Myanmar nationals were being held in immigration detention depots, although not all of them are classified as refugees. Malaysia's immigration department, working alongside police, is expected to complete a review of those detainees' identities, citizenship, immigration status, asylum claims, and security backgrounds by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, Malaysian officials said the repatriation would be halted if the refugees were at risk of persecution or danger upon their return. "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," Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said at the time.

Human Rights Watch, however, has argued that conditions for a safe, dignified, and genuinely voluntary return to Myanmar currently do not exist. The organisation has also warned that Myanmar's military continues to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, casting serious doubt on the safety of any repatriation.

Malaysia has long served as a refuge for Rohingya fleeing persecution at home, despite not being a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and not formally recognising refugee status. The country now hosts one of Southeast Asia's largest refugee populations, with more than 215,000 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Among them are more than 126,000 Rohingya from Myanmar, making them the largest refugee community in the country.

August 25 marked nine years since the mass exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar's Rakhine state to neighbouring Bangladesh, following a brutal military crackdown. More than one million Rohingya now live in Bangladesh's sprawling refugee camps, and the broader Rohingya population — a mostly Muslim ethnic group that has lived in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for centuries — remains the world's largest stateless community, as Myanmar refuses to officially recognise them as an ethnic group.