Charles Santiago
Malaysia cannot, in good conscience, celebrate the return of 5,000 Rohingya to Myanmar. Not without first answering one fundamental question: return them to what?
A country still engulfed in armed conflict? A country where the military that drove more than a million people from their homes remains in power? And where Rohingya continue to face persecution, statelessness and grave human rights abuses?
Are we now comfortable sending vulnerable people back into the very conditions they fled? Back to a conflict where civilians continue to bear the brunt of violence?
If there are no credible guarantees of safety, dignity, citizenship and voluntary return, this is not a diplomatic achievement to shout about. It is a moral failure.
Malaysia spent the past year as Asean chair, engaging and rebuilding ties with Myanmar’s military leadership. Is this what those conversations amounted to? Is this the legacy of all those meetings and photo opportunities with Min Aung Hlaing?
Is the first tangible outcome the removal of refugees, rather than meaningful progress towards peace, accountability and justice?
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For decades, Malaysia has rightly spoken out against the persecution of the Rohingya. We condemned atrocities, mobilised humanitarian assistance and urged the international community to act.
To now facilitate returns without transparent safeguards risks abandoning the very principles we once championed.
Any forced or coerced return of refugees to a place where they face persecution would violate the internationally recognised principle of non-refoulement. This is a cornerstone of customary international law. It binds all states, regardless of whether they have signed the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Such a move would seriously damage Malaysia’s international standing and could turn the country into a global outcast on refugee protection.
Above all, where is our humanity? Refugees are not a political inconvenience to be negotiated away. They are human beings who fled unimaginable violence in search of safety.
Malaysia should be remembered for protecting the vulnerable, not for sending them back to die on the frontlines.
Charles Santiago is a prominent Malaysian politician, economist and human rights advocate who served three terms as the MP for Klang and has twice chaired the National Water Services Commission.
The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.
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