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Iman Muttaqin Yusof

Malaysia has ordered the UN refugee agency to stop registering new refugees while it builds a biometric identification system that officials say will give them greater control over a population of more than 215,000 displaced people.
But rights advocates warn the freeze risks leaving newly arrived asylum seekers with no way to prove they need protection, opening a dangerous gap in a country that does not accord them formal legal status.
The cabinet ordered the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to temporarily halt registrations while the government restructures refugee management through the Dokumen Pendaftaran Pelarian (DPP), or refugee registration document, programme launched in January.
Deputy Foreign Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni told the Upper House in parliament on Thursday that the DPP would allow the government to coordinate data, verify identities and monitor refugees “without relying on the records of any foreign entities”.
Registration would involve enforcement agencies and a strict screening process intended to ensure that only eligible refugees received the document, he said, arguing that Malaysia should not continue to carry the burden alone when it was not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention.
The order accelerates Malaysia’s effort to assert greater control over refugee registration, a role UNHCR has performed for decades in the country in the absence of a national asylum law.
The DPP’s first phase has focused on people held in immigration detention centres, according to UNHCR, which warned in January that purported government registrations conducted outside these centres were not legitimate.

As of February, UNHCR had registered about 215,600 refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia, including 193,824 from Myanmar.
Some 126,144 were Rohingya, the stateless Muslim minority denied citizenship by Myanmar, while nearly 65,000 of the total refugee population were children.
Adrian Pereira, executive director and co-founder of the North South Initiative, said newly arrived asylum seekers would be left with no channel to establish their protection needs while the freeze remained in place, exposing them to various risks.
They would be “susceptible to enforcement raids” and “extortion by both authorities and locals”, he said, adding that the loss of documentation could also obstruct access to housing, banking and other basic services.
“It would be the ultimate disaster if both the DPP and the UNHCR system stall,” Pereira said. “Communities will not have a backup plan.”
Paper shield
Malaysia does not legally distinguish refugees from other undocumented migrants, leaving even UNHCR cardholders vulnerable to arrest under immigration law. The UN agency says its document carries no formal legal value in Malaysia, although it can reduce the risk of arrest and provide limited access to healthcare, education and humanitarian support.
Criminal lawyer Goh Cia Yee said the DPP faced the same fundamental weakness unless Putrajaya amended the Immigration Act or introduced a clear exemption for refugees.
“The DPP card by itself is only a stopgap measure and not a permanent solution,” Goh said. “It is an administrative identification document that does not automatically create lawful immigration status or a right to remain.”

Goh said halting UNHCR registration before the state system became fully operational and accessible would create “a serious protection gap”, particularly when the DPP remained centred on detention facilities.
“If UNHCR cannot register that person and the DPP is not yet available outside detention centres, the practical message is that the person must first risk arrest or detention before the claim can even be considered,” he said.
Refugee rights activist Mahi Ramakrishnan said asylum seekers without documents could be detained or deported before their claims were assessed, with no clear mechanism to assert that they were fleeing persecution.
“Immigration enforcement should not become a substitute for refugee status determination,” she said. “There must also be safeguards to ensure that people are not deported to places where they may face persecution or serious harm simply because they were unable to register during the transition period.”
UNHCR has publicly welcomed Malaysia’s “efforts to strengthen national arrangements for refugee registration and management”.
“States have the primary responsibility for providing international protection to refugees and asylum-seekers on their territory, and UNHCR is mandated to support governments to carry out this role. Fair, transparent and efficient asylum procedures will support Malaysia’s objectives of enhancing security and improving data accuracy, while protecting people fleeing conflict and persecution,” a UNHCR spokesperson told This Week in Asia.
“Our immediate focus is to discuss practical arrangements with the government and to help maintain continuity for refugees and asylum-seekers, particularly those with urgent protection needs.”
The takeover comes as anti-Rohingya rhetoric intensified online last month, with claims that refugees are seizing Malaysian jobs and land. UNHCR warned that Rohingya communities had continued to face dehumanising narratives even in exile, saying online hatred was fuelling harassment and intimidation.

Lukanisman said Malaysia planned to repatriate about 5,000 Myanmar nationals held in immigration depots using naval vessels, subject to an agreement with Myanmar.
He did not explain how detainees would be screened for asylum claims or whether UNHCR would be granted access.
Malaysia deported more than 1,000 Myanmar nationals by ship in 2021 despite a court order temporarily halting the exercise.
Rights groups said the group included asylum seekers and people already registered with UNHCR.
Goh said any return process required confidential interviews, interpreters, legal advice and an independent review, warning that “a blanket or group-based return of 5,000 people” would not provide an adequate safeguard against refoulement.
This Week in Asia has contacted UNHCR and Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail for comment but has not received a response from them.


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The asylum seekers would be ‘susceptible to enforcement raids’ and ‘extortion by both authorities and locals’, an activist says


The asylum seekers would be ‘susceptible to enforcement raids’ and ‘extortion by both authorities and locals’, an activist says.


Rohingya Muslims

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Human rights

Malaysia’s refugee registration halt risks ‘ultimate disaster’ for new arrivals

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The asylum seekers would be ‘susceptible to enforcement raids’ and ‘extortion by both authorities and locals’, an activist says

The asylum seekers would be ‘susceptible to enforcement raids’ and ‘extortion by both authorities and locals’, an activist says