OCTOBER 3 — Malaysia has no legal duty to host the Rohingya, yet it did. 

Malaysia never signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, and under our Immigration Act, refugees are treated as irregular migrants, liable to detention and deportation. 

Non-refoulement is often thrown at us, but no Malaysian law can enforce it against the government. 

UNHCR itself acknowledges that registration does not give refugees legal immigration status in Malaysia.

Yet Malaysia has sheltered the Rohingya since the early 1990s. UNHCR began registering them in 1992, and as of February 2026, recorded 126,144 Rohingya in Malaysia. 

Not bad for a country that never signed up to the international refugee regime.

Malaysia has done this before. Between 1975 and 1996, nearly 255,000 Vietnamese boat people received temporary asylum here. 

Some 248,410 were eventually resettled in Western countries, while more than 9,000 returned to Vietnam. For a time, we sheltered Vietnamese and Rohingya together, as a developing country with woes of our own.

But the Vietnamese could leave. The 1989 Comprehensive Plan of Action resettled them in the US, Australia, Canada, France and elsewhere. 

Temporary sanctuary here, permanent homes abroad. That was the deal. Why NOT the same for the Rohingya?

Because the West will not take them in. That is the inconvenient truth. 

Malaysia continues to face pressure to provide protection, uphold international standards and accommodate a protracted refugee population. 

Yet durable third-country solutions remain limited. In 2025, UNHCR reported that only 1,920 refugees in Malaysia were submitted for resettlement, down sharply from 9,125 in 2024, amid reduced international resettlement capacity.

Is it because they are brown and Muslim? When white South Africans claimed persecution, Washington swiftly created a prioritised refugee pipeline. 

For the Rohingya, who fled ethnic cleansing, the offer is press releases and sanctimony. 

Brown Muslims fleeing genocide are told “Malaysia should do more”. White Christians facing allegations are fast-tracked to America. The hypocrisy is staggering.

Malaysia has done more than its fair share. Thank you, Geneva, Brussels and Washington, for the lectures on international law. 

Your resettlement places? Remarkably few. We are lectured by nations that will not share the burden, will not accept meaningful numbers, and invoke “customary international law” they will not help enforce.

To those preaching to us: put up or shut up. If these refugees must be protected, open your borders. Fund the camps. Offer realistic resettlement. Or stop pretending to care.

Malaysia should not be expected to carry an open-ended crisis while wealthier countries offer lectures in place of places.

Do not preach what you do not practise. Would your country take 1,000 Rohingya?

*This is the personal opinion of the writers or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.