PRIME Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in a recent speech at the UN Headquarters in New York, restated Malaysia’s ongoing support for the Rohingya and the intention to continue to help by whatever means possible. Malaysia has done a lot to assist the Rohingya, probably the most persecuted minority in the world, and is currently helping over 177,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers from all over the world on an ad hoc basis. Now it is time to formalise that support with a comprehensive refugee policy framework. Lessons can be learned from Malaysia’s own history and from developments in refugee frameworks around the world.

Not to be confused with economic migrants, refugees are a distinct group who have fled here from conflict, violence and persecution in their own countries. While Malaysia has never had a formal framework that recognises refugees, we do have a history of welcoming people facing such hardship. Over the past 45 years, refugees have come and gone from Malaysia, from places as far reaching as Palestine, Syria and Bosnia. The Vietnamese “boat people”, who fled by sea following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, arrived on Malaysian shores over the next decade. As numbers increased, the government set up a camp on Bidong Island in Terengganu. Although conditions on the island were tough, the refugees were given a place to live, provided with basic amenities and many set up small businesses, learned local languages and other skills.