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PUTRAJAYA: Rohingya refugees have no status, rights or basis for the Malaysian government’s state demands, Interior Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said.
He said that any organization that claims to be representing the Rohingya here was illegal under the Company Registration Act.
“The Home Office verified with the ROS and found that no organization with the name Rohingya was registered in Malaysia.
“Any organization that claims to be representing the Rohingya is illegal under the ROS Act and legal action can be taken.
“Rohingya citizens who hold the UNHCR card have no status, rights or basis to make any claims,” he said yesterday.
Recently, people from the Myanmar Rohingya Ethnic Human Rights Organization in Malaysia made statements, demanding things like equal rights, employment, access to health care and education.
The lawsuits have sparked unprecedented negative feelings among some members of the community against Rohingya refugees, and many urge the government to repatriate all Rohingya and stop accepting them.
According to records, as of March, there are 179,521 UNHCR cardholders in Malaysia, of whom 101,584 are Rohingya.
Hamzah said the ministry was aware of concerns about the Rohingya-related problems here. He noted that Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its Protocol, therefore there is no legal or monitoring framework for refugee rights here.
“The government does not recognize their status as refugees but as illegal immigrants who hold cards of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),” he said.
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