Migration and the Refugee Regime in Malaysia: Implications for a Regional Solution

In the past five decades, Malaysia has seen significant influxes in migration from neighbouring countries in Asia. The country relies on mostly cheap and temporary foreign workers for labour force growth and has signed intergovernmental labour accords to fill gaps in the manufacturing, construction, agriculture and service sectors. In constructing its foreign labour policy, the government has also problematized immigration, and migrants are classified either as authorized or unauthorized migrants. This policy has resulted in a hostile environment for all migrants, particularly refugees and asylum seekers. The government has also empowered an armed civilian corps in its campaign against irregular migrants and established detention facilities to judicially detain irregular migrants, including refugees. An earlier task force set up to deal with Vietnamese boat people in the 1970s is presently used for all irregular migrant groups. Both the detention camps and the task force have major implications for the human rights of migrant workers and refugees. This chapter contextualizes these developments within Malaysia's overall immigration policy processes, their impact on the refugee regime in the country and implications for a regional solution.