PHOTO CREDIT: Facebook Hamzah Zainudin

The Minister of Home Affairs, Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin, is considering the option to create dedicated camps to house UNHCR refugees and is looking into the places, infrastructure and costs of accommodating them following suggestions from the general public.

This has met with strong resistance from the Malaysian Advisory Group on Myanmar who expressed their disappointment over the move to create refugee camps.

The hawkish stance adopted by the government will only serve to push refugees and undocumented migrants further into hiding and discourage them from coming forward to be tested and vaccinated against Covid-19, said the group.

The group said that the vast majority of refugees in Malaysia are “urban refugees” which allows them to live in dignity, normalcy and to contribute to the well being of society.

Building camps will not only create trauma and dependency but will also be an enormous burden on scarce public resources and ostracize the refugees from the mainstream of society.

According to the UNHCR, there are approximately 180,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia. The country is also not a signatory to the UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention and local laws offer refugees little protection as they tend to be identified as illegal immigrants.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE