Malaysia starts sending Myanmar migrants home

Dozens of buses arrived under police escort at the Majlis Perbandaran Manjung stadium near the Lumut naval base in northwestern Malaysia. The migrants were expected to be processed before being taken to Myanmar by ship.

29 Sep 2026 10:48AM

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia began repatriating around 1,500 Myanmar nationals on Tuesday (Sep 29), launching the first phase of a return programme that has raised concerns from rights groups.

The group is the first of 5,000 Myanmar nationals Malaysia says have agreed to "voluntary" repatriation from detention centres.

Dozens of buses arrived under police escort at the Majlis Perbandaran Manjung stadium near the Lumut naval base in northwestern Malaysia, AFP correspondents saw on Tuesday.

Reporters were not allowed inside the grounds.

The migrants were expected to be processed before being transported to the nearby naval base and taken to Myanmar by ship.

It was not immediately clear on Tuesday how many in the group were Rohingya, and Malaysian authorities did not divulge the number.

But the persecuted Muslim minority makes up two-thirds of the 190,000 Myanmar refugees and asylum seekers in the country, according to the United Nations.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced in July that Myanmar had agreed to take back 5,000 members of the Rohingya, in a rare repatriation push that has prompted concern from rights groups.

Observers say mounting public fatigue over refugees, along with domestic political expediency, were among the factors behind Malaysia’s shift in its policies towards refugees, even as some refugees told CNA it was still unsafe to return to their homeland.

The repatriation plan was announced after authorities detained more than 100 Rohingya who had gathered outside the UN refugee agency's office in Kuala Lumpur.

The refugees were seeking help after being threatened with eviction from an informal settlement in northern Penang state.

They were later released after officials confirmed they held valid UN documentation.

Myanmar earlier this month pledged "safe and dignified" returns for its citizens displaced abroad, after criticism from the United Nations and rights groups.

Anwar also said he would invite Myanmar's coup leader-turned-civilian president Min Aung Hlaing for an official visit to help expedite the repatriation process.

Malaysia, which shelters one of Southeast Asia's biggest refugee populations, is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not formally recognise refugee status.

AFP fact-checkers have found that Rohingya refugees in Malaysia have been targeted by online disinformation campaigns that rights advocates say are fuelling xenophobia and intimidation.

Many of the Rohingya, a mostly Muslim group, escaped Myanmar during a brutal military crackdown in 2017.