Refugees in Malaysia: Malaysian government creates own refugee database
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The United Nations refugee agency says it has officially registered around 150 thousand refugees in Malaysia. The Malaysian government says it has scant information on many of those refugees. It's now launched its own scheme to biometrically register all refugees living in the country, but as CGTN's Rian Maelzer reports from Kuala Lumpur, the initiative has gotten off to a slow start.
 
Malaysia's government does not officially recognize refugees. But around 150,000 people who've been issued UNHCR refugee cards reside in Malaysia. More than 130,000 of them originate from Myanmar, most of them Rohingya. The government has embarked a programme to biometrically register and issue identity cards to all of them, despite the UNHCR now having its own biometric card system.
 
TENGKU ADNAN TENGKU MANSOR FEDERAL TERRITORIES MINISTER "After we made a lot of noise, they also improved, but there is a lot of abuse. Sometimes that card could be fake. We do not know. So that's the reason why would like to straighten things out because we are also worried about the security of this country."
 
But in the first few months of the programme, only a few hundred refugees came forward to register with the government.
 
MOHAMMAD ROHINGYA REFUGEE "We have already been registered. Why should we have to go through that process again? We're afraid that if authorities use this to come after us, where can we go, what are we going to do?"
 
Refugee rights activists also have their doubts.
 
KHADIJAH SHAMSUL MIGRANT88 NGO "We think there's room for abuse and there's definitely room for exploitation. That's why we think the programme isn't gaining the traction that the Malaysian government wants."
 
RIAN MAELZER KUALA LUMPUR "UNHCR says it is assisting the company contracted to carry out the government registration programme. But Malaysian authorities say they need access to UNHCR's database to make the programme work."
 
UNHCR says it is willing to provide that as long as the Malaysian government signs a bilateral agreement guaranteeing data protection and privacy. Regardless, though, 150,000 UNHCR card holders and an unknown number yet to register as refugees remain stuck in limbo in Malaysia, waiting and hoping to one day be relocated to a third country. Rian Maelzer, CGTN, Kuala Lumpur.