KUALA LUMPUR: Refugees holding the Refugee Registration Document (DPP) card will be given conditional access to formal employment.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the move would provide an alternative to bringing in new foreign workers.
"To prevent refugees from falling into the shadow economy or being exploited by syndicates, the government gives DPP holders conditional access to the formal employment sector.
"This permission to work serves as a substitution for the entry of new foreign workers from abroad, in line with the 13th Malaysia Plan to reduce the country's economic dependence on foreign workers," he said.
Saifuddin said this in a written parliamentary reply to Sivakumar Varatharaju Naidu (PH-Batu Gajah), who asked about the government's long-term strategic framework for Rohingya refugees, balancing humanitarian, security and socioeconomic responsibilities, and regional and international mechanisms for sharing responsibility.
He said social services for DPP holders would not affect facilities provided to Malaysians. Healthcare would be insurance-based or paid for, without government subsidies.
Refugee children would receive basic education and training through private institutions to protect them from street crime, exploitation and other social threats, he said.
Saifuddin said refugees and asylum seekers were managed under National Security Council Directive No. 23 (Revised 2023), implemented by 20 ministries and agencies.
He said the Immigration Department registers refugees and collects their biometric data so the government can maintain its own official records.
The Home Ministry began the DPP programme on Jan 1 to register personal details, collect biometric data, conduct background checks and security screening, and determine the refugee status of UNHCR cardholders and those claiming refugee status.
The programme remains in Phase 1, focusing on immigration detention depots. Saifuddin said 4,008 detainees had been recorded as potentially eligible for temporary protection, subject to security screening and the government's status determination process.
As of June, 78 Rohingya detainees at the refugee isolation centre in Bidor, Perak, had been approved for refugee status under the programme.
Those verified as refugees will receive a DPP card, a special pass under Regulation 14 of the Immigration Regulations 1963.
The card allows them to stay temporarily in Malaysia, except in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.
Cardholders' movements are controlled by geographic zones, and they cannot cross state borders without special permission from the Immigration Department. The card must be renewed annually.
"The implementation of the DPP aims to manage the presence of its holders temporarily and is not to provide permanent settlement in this country," he said.
He said the final arrangements would take one of three forms: resettlement in a third country, return to the country of origin when conditions allowed, or expulsion for those who commit crimes or breach the conditions of their pass.
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