Malaysia is on the lookout for several Rohingya refugees and individuals from Myanmar following their escape from a temporary immigration detention center in the northern region of the country.
According to the Immigration Department, a man lost his life after 131 men fled from the Bidor facility in the state of Perak. The incident occurred on Thursday night, with the escape following a riot at the camp. Perak police reported that the man was struck by a vehicle when attempting to cross the main north-south highway.
Of the escaped individuals, 115 were Rohingya, while the remaining 16 belonged to other ethnicities from Myanmar. The Immigration Department director-general, Ruslin Jusoh, stated that a search party comprising 375 police, soldiers, and reservist volunteers has been deployed.
Malaysia has become a sought-after destination for the predominantly Muslim Rohingya community, many of whom fled Myanmar for neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 amid a brutal military crackdown, which is currently under investigation for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
The perilous journeys by boat undertaken by many to escape dire conditions in Myanmar and Bangladeshi refugee camps have resulted in numerous casualties. Last year alone, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) reported that 569 Rohingya individuals either died or went missing at sea.
In Malaysia, people from Myanmar constitute the majority of the 185,300 registered refugees and asylum-seekers, with 107,670 being Rohingya who were deprived of citizenship by a military regime in the 1980s. Others have sought refuge amidst a deepening civil war since the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi three years ago.
The absence of a formal asylum application process in Malaysia leaves refugees vulnerable as undocumented migrants, subject to arrest or exploitation in low-paying jobs. The immigration department has intensified its crackdown on undocumented migrants in recent months, although the UNHCR has been denied access to immigration detention centers to verify the status of refugees since August 2019.
This escape is not an isolated incident, as over 500 Rohingya refugees, including children, fled a temporary detention center in Penang state in April 2022, resulting in six fatalities in a similar highway-crossing attempt.
The situation raises concerns about the safety and well-being of Rohingya refugees and other individuals from Myanmar living in precarious conditions in Malaysia.
