Draw the line before it is too late on refugee policy

 

 Malaysians are no longer speaking about the Rohingya issue with patience. That patience is wearing out.

For too long, this country has treated the matter as though it were temporary or too complicated to confront directly. It is not. It is now a long-running failure of control.

Malaysia opened the door on humanitarian grounds. Fine. But what followed was not a proper policy. It was a drift.

Weak enforcement. Loose boundaries. Endless tolerance without clear limits. The consequences are now being carried by the public.

People see it in business activity. Licences under local names. Operations controlled elsewhere. Local identities used to make questionable arrangements look legal. This is what happens when enforcement is soft, and everyone knows it.

Malaysia still has no comprehensive domestic refugee framework, and it is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. That leaves this issue in a grey zone where documentation is weak, and enforcement is uneven.

It shows in family matters too. Marriage is not the main issue, but it has become one of the clearest consequences of this failure. When local women marry UNHCR cardholders or men without recognised citizenship status, the risks begin immediately.

Registration becomes uncertain. Rights become uncertain. Documentation becomes uncertain. When problems come, the Malaysian wife and child are the ones left exposed.

Later comes the cost. No proper legal standing. Weak protection. Complications for children. Limited recourse if abuse happens.

The same applies when harm is done, and accountability weakens because identity, status, and enforceability are already in question. People are tired of being told to stay calm while the system stays loose.

Public anger rooted in policy gaps

That anger did not appear from nowhere. It comes from slow government response, open loopholes, and institutions speaking about compassion while the public carries the burden.

Suhakam needs to hear this. No one is denying that human dignity matters. No one is saying people should be abused or degraded. But Suhakam cannot keep speaking as though public anger exists in a vacuum. The anger comes from what people see: weak control, weak enforcement, and weak answers.

Condemning harsh rhetoric without confronting the failures that produced public frustration is not enough. It sounds detached. Suhakam condemned abusive and dehumanising attacks against the Rohingya. That does not answer the policy vacuum the public is reacting to.

The viral claim that Rohingya leaders demanded Selayang was false. The speed at which it spread shows how far trust has already eroded. Too many Malaysians no longer believe the government has control.

The country is not required to grant permanent settlement or citizenship to any refugee group. That decision must be based on law, security, economic capacity, and national interest.

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Humanitarian shelter is one thing. Permanent expectation is another. Once that line is blurred, the problem grows.

Restore control

The government must define, clearly and publicly, what UNHCR cardholders can and cannot do.

It must shut down business activity run through local proxies.

It must create firm legal rules on marriages involving individuals without recognised citizenship or unresolved documentation.

It must tighten documentation checks and movement control.

It must establish a clear compensation and accountability framework in cases where Malaysians are harmed, and direct recovery is impossible.

These are the minimum requirements of a government that still wants to be taken seriously.

There has been enough patience. What has not been seen is control.

Unless the government starts acting like it still has the will to draw a line, this anger will not fade.

It will harden. And once it does, it will be much harder to control. - Mkini

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MAHATHIR MOHD RAIS is a former Federal Territories Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional secretary. He is now a PKR member.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.