Myanmar migrants repatriated from Malaysia queue to have their documents processed by Immigration officers in Thanlyin, on Oct 4, 2026. (Photo: AFP/Sai Aung Main)

Myanmar says 10,000 migrants returned from Malaysia this year

Rights monitors have raised concerns that members of the Rohingya minority may be sent back to Myanmar, where they have faced violent persecution.

05 Oct 2026, 08:28 · CNA · Join

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YANGON: Myanmar has repatriated nearly 10,000 migrants from Malaysia this year, state media said on Monday (Oct 5), a day after a flotilla returning almost 1,500 of its citizens docked in the country.

The United Nations (UN) has sharply criticised Malaysia's push to return migrants to Myanmar under an opaque scheme it says cannot guarantee safe homecomings to the war-torn nation.

A group of 1,476 returnees arrived by ship outside Yangon on Sunday, the first of 5,000 that Kuala Lumpur says Myanmar agreed to take back amid a wave of anti-migrant sentiment in Malaysia.

Rights monitors have raised concerns that members of the Rohingya minority may be sent back to Myanmar, where they have faced violent persecution, but Malaysia has not commented on the ethnicities of returnees.

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Myanmar revealed on Monday that a parallel and larger repatriation push has also been taking place by plane.

Between January and August this year, "8,041 citizens were repatriated by air", state newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar said.

While the ship returns have been highly publicised in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur has not commented on the returns Myanmar says it organised by weekly flights.

The total number of migrants Myanmar has said returned by plane and ship this year is 9,517.

Malaysia insists returnees under its scheme agreed to voluntary repatriation from detention centres, where Myanmar says they had "faced difficulties" after serving sentences for immigration offences.

But rights groups report dire conditions in the facilities, and the UN refugee agency says staff were not allowed to verify that decisions to return were "were genuinely free and informed".

More than 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed in Myanmar since a military coup in 2021 unleashed civil war, according to monitor organisation ACLED.

ASEAN's Five-Point Consensus

Following a 2021 military coup, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has excluded Myanmar from high-level meetings as it has yet to make meaningful progress on the bloc's Five-Point Consensus to end hostilities.

During a meeting in April 2021, all ASEAN leaders reached a consensus about the situation in Myanmar.

The five points are:

First, there shall be immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar and all parties shall exercise utmost restraint.

Second, constructive dialogue among all parties concerned shall commence to seek a peaceful solution in the interests of the people.

Third, a special envoy of the ASEAN chair shall facilitate mediation of the dialogue process, with the assistance of the secretary-general of ASEAN.

Fourth, ASEAN shall provide humanitarian assistance through the AHA Centre.

Fifth, the special envoy and delegation shall visit Myanmar to meet with all parties concerned.

The Rohingya started fleeing the country en masse to Malaysia before that, escaping a military crackdown starting in 2017 deemed a genocide by rights groups - a charge the armed forces have always denied.

The Rohingya make up two-thirds of the 190,000 Myanmar refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia, according to UN data, and have been the focus of recent anti-migrant sentiment.

After the ships carrying the 1,476 migrants docked Sunday in Thanlyin, just south of Yangon, AFP journalists saw dozens moved to a monastery holding centre for ID and health checks.

"Necessary arrangements are continuing to facilitate their swift reunion with relatives and family members, ensuring their safe return to their respective hometowns," The Global New Light of Myanmar said.

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