Immigration Director-General confirms Myanmar refugees holding UNHCR cards remain subject to Malaysia’s Immigration Act for non-exempt offences.
KUALA LUMPUR: Myanmar refugees holding valid United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cards remain subject to the Immigration Act 1959/63.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said UNHCR cardholders could be treated as illegal immigrants if they committed other immigration offences, including working without a valid pass or permit.
“Employers who employ UNHCR card-holding refugees without valid authorisation may also be subject to legal action,” he said in a statement today.
Zakaria also denied that the Immigration Department (JIM) had ever stated that Myanmar refugees holding UNHCR cards were not illegal immigrants, as reported by the media.
The clarification followed media reports claiming that UNHCR cardholders could not be subjected to immigration action and were outside JIM’s jurisdiction.
Zakaria said the exemption only covered two offences under the Immigration Act: not possessing valid travel documents or passes, and overstaying.
“The exemption from these two offences does not mean that UNHCR cardholders are exempt from complying with other provisions under the Immigration Act,” he said.
He said the management of refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia was based on government policy coordinated through National Security Council (MKN) Directive No. 23 on the Policy and Mechanism for the Management of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, as well as the Cabinet Committee on Refugees and Asylum Seekers chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN) and JIM are responsible for registering refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia through the Refugee Registration Documentation (DPP) Programme, he said.
“The implementation of DPP is aimed at enabling the government to have more comprehensive and systematic data on the presence of refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia.
“Any decision concerning the management of refugees is subject to policies determined by the MKN through the Cabinet Committee on Refugees and Asylum Seekers,” he added.
