Malaysia talks endlessly about “humanity.” And humanitarian treatment.
On 14 August, Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said Malaysia did not want to be seen as a country that was “tidak berperikemanusiaan” - inhumane - by sending refugees back if their lives or safety were at risk. He also said UNHCR cooperation was important for checking refugee status and safety.
Then in the Home Ministry's 27 August statement, KDN said the DPP reflected the MADANI government's “pendekatan ihsan” (“compassionate/humane approach”) and repeatedly described refugee management and returns as “berperikemanusiaan” - humanitarian/humane.
And on 29 September, the Home Ministry was still saying the return operation was based on “nilai Ihsan dan semangat kekeluargaan ASEAN.” Yes, Google Translate it. It means “the values of compassion and the ASEAN spirit of family” and that it was being conducted “secara … berperikemanusiaan”, humanely.
And just to drive the point home, when Malaysian ministers talk about “nilai ihsan,” they are not using a random bit of moral language. Ihsan or compassion/benevolence is one of the government’s own defining MADANI values. That is why it is politically useful in this case. The government is explicitly presenting its refugee and repatriation policy as consistent with “ihsan.”
On 5 August, Fahmi Fadzil, Malaysia’s Communications Minister, said Malaysia would not send these refugees back if they faced persecution or threats to their lives. Such a humanitarian, eh? Today he announced the next 3,524 for return, even as UNHCR says it was denied access to the first group and could not establish whether their return was genuinely voluntary.
Let us have a quick look at what this voluntary repatriation is all about by looking at how the list was actually made. On 2 September, Fahmi Fadzil said the Home Ministry had screened about 5,000 names from more than 10,000 Myanmar nationals in immigration detention. These names were then sent to the Myanmar Embassy. Myanmar then agreed to take 1,476 of them. Now, with those people returned to Myanmar, Fahmi says the remaining 3,524 in phase two were “identified by the Myanmar authorities.” Yes, Myanmar chose them and sent their names formally to Malaysia in a diplomatic note. After which Malaysia says their consent was obtained. A signature from someone sitting in immigration detention, after Malaysia has put their name before the government they fled from, is not proof of free choice. Malaysia allowed the Myanmar junta to cherry-pick targets from detention cells, then called it safe return.
Here is what ihsan looks like from where I’m sitting. Two Rohingya I filmed in the very first documentary I ever made about the community are now hiding in their homes - scared witless. They have seen neighbours assaulted. They tell me they have watched police stop UNHCR card-holders and extract money from them before letting them go. Their husbands are frightened to go out because any encounter with the authorities could end in detention. Malaysia calls all this refugee management. To the two women, it feels like being hunted.
The political atmosphere has given every neighbourhood bully and amateur vigilante a license to have a go. Posters have circulated describing Rohingya as a “cancer” and urging Malaysians not to rent to them, employ them, transport them or trade with them.
This is where all the grand talk of ihsan lands.
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