Malaysia sends 1,500 Rohingya back over UN warnings — SkimNews
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- Malaysia began sending nearly 1,500 Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar, with dozens of buses arriving at a stadium near the Lumut naval base under police escort; journalists were barred from the grounds and two Myanmar naval warships plus a hospital ship will transport them.
- UNHCR said it had no role in the operation, warning that continuing conflict and violence in Myanmar mean conditions for "safe and dignified" returns do not exist; Malaysia's Home Ministry declined to comment on the warning.
- Arakan Rohingya National Council cochair Nay San Lwin called the operation "sending people back to a killing field," noting both the military and the Arakan Army are committing atrocities against Rohingya in Rakhine, where the military has lost control of much of the Rohingya homeland.
- Doctors Without Borders and more than 160 civil society organizations urged Malaysia to halt the returns, citing the risk that Rohingya could be pressed into armed groups amid ongoing fighting in Rakhine state.
- Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Myanmar agreed in July to take back 5,000 Rohingya; he separately intends to invite Senior General Min Aung Hlaing — who led the military during the 2017 crackdown widely described as genocide — to Malaysia to accelerate returns.
- Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not formally recognize refugee status; as of February 2026 it housed more than 126,144 Rohingya refugees, while Bangladesh hosts over 1.2 million.
- Myanmar does not recognize Rohingya as an ethnic community, instead describing them as "Bengalis," and returnees face an uncertain reception — one 25-year-old man told AFP he is now jobless in Yangon and still lacks full citizenship.
Why it matters: Malaysia is proceeding with repatriations despite explicit UN warnings that Rakhine's active fighting makes returns unsafe, and despite Myanmar's own refusal to recognize Rohingya as a people. The operation also ties Kuala Lumpur diplomatically to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the architect of the 2017 crackdown, as PM Anwar plans to host him to accelerate the returns.
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