Myanmar has agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya refugees currently living in Malaysia, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Wednesday, describing the deal as a diplomatic breakthrough reached through sustained negotiation between the two governments.
Speaking to voters in Jelebu, in the central Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan, Anwar said the agreement marked progress on an issue that had long stalled because Myanmar’s government had previously declined to accept returnees. “Send them back to where? Myanmar didn’t want to take them,” he said, adding that improved relations between Kuala Lumpur and Naypyidaw had made the arrangement possible.
Anwar said Myanmar had separately agreed to accept roughly 300,000 Rohingya currently sheltering in neighboring Bangladesh, though he gave no timeline for either repatriation effort and described the Malaysia-linked deal as an initial step rather than a comprehensive resolution to the region’s Rohingya displacement crisis.
Malaysia hosts one of Southeast Asia’s largest Rohingya populations, most of whom fled violence and persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, including a 2017 military crackdown the United Nations has said was carried out with genocidal intent. According to the U.N. refugee agency, Malaysia has more than 215,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers, with people from Myanmar making up the large majority.
The prime minister’s announcement came days after more than 100 Rohingya refugees gathered outside the U.N. refugee agency’s office in Kuala Lumpur, following what they said was their eviction from a settlement in the northern state of Penang. Malaysian police said dozens of those involved were subsequently relocated to government facilities in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Penang.
Anwar said his government would not tolerate refugees disrupting public order, and said he had directed national police to act firmly against those responsible for gatherings or disturbances in public spaces. The remarks reflect a harder line Malaysia has taken toward its refugee population in recent months; authorities have also moved to suspend new refugee registrations processed by the U.N. refugee agency in favor of a government-run documentation system, and have carried out raids targeting undocumented migrants nationwide.
Rights groups have repeatedly raised concern that any returns to Myanmar, which has been gripped by civil conflict since the military seized power in a 2021 coup, could put Rohingya refugees at risk absent guarantees of safety and citizenship rights in Rakhine state. Myanmar’s junta has never recognized the Rohingya as citizens, and previous, smaller repatriation efforts brokered with Bangladesh have stalled repeatedly over refugees’ fears of returning to unsafe conditions.
