Malaysia will seek clarification from Myanmar over reports that hundreds of migrants recently returned to the country are being held in military detention, Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said on Monday.
Malaysia in late September sent back around 1,500 Myanmar nationals as it launched a scheme that rights groups say may endanger migrants by returning them to the war-torn country.
Kuala Lumpur said the group agreed to “voluntary” repatriation from detention centres amid an uptick in anti-migrant sentiment in Malaysia.
Myanmar pledged “safe and dignified” returns for its citizens displaced abroad, after criticism from the United Nations and rights groups.
Mohamad told parliament on Monday that Malaysia’s charge d’affaires in Myanmar would investigate the allegations and learn the condition of those reportedly detained.
“If there is news that the 300 people are still being detained, we will ask the Myanmar government to explain to us,” he told parliament in response to a lawmaker’s question.
“We will ask the Myanmar government to ensure that the assurances it gave us are honoured,” he added.
Myanmar news outlet the Democratic Voice of Burma reported on Thursday that more than 400 ethnic Rakhine residents who returned from Malaysia earlier this month “remain in military custody” after arriving in Yangon.
They were among a group of 1,476 returnees who arrived by ship outside Yangon, the first of 5,000 that Kuala Lumpur says Myanmar agreed to take back.
An additional 3,524 people are expected to be repatriated in a second phase.
The UN has warned conditions in Myanmar, which has been consumed by civil war since a 2021 military coup, mean safe homecomings cannot be guaranteed as required under international law.
Myanmar’s coup leader turned president Min Aung Hlaing has been a pariah in many capitals abroad since the putsch, but Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim invited him for talks about returning Myanmar migrants earlier this month.
During the visit, Min Aung Hlaing said migrants from his country held in Malaysian detention centres will be returned home “as soon as possible.”
“We will take those verified nationals back as soon as possible,” he told a joint news conference with Anwar.
The opaque repatriation scheme has been criticised by rights monitors, some fearing ethnic Rohingya may be sent back to a country where they have experienced persecution that rights experts say amounted to genocide.
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