GEORGE TOWN: The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has been urged to expedite the placement of refugees who hold the UNHCR card to third countries.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the ministry viewed as serious the issue of foreigners holding the refugee status and holding the UNHCR cards in this country.
“There are about 150,000 UNHCR card holders in this country and most of them are Myanmar citizens. This burdens the country. Do not burden Malaysia by staying here for years,” he said after visiting the Penang Police Headquarters here yesterday.
He said the third countries were also urged not to be choosy by accepting only those who were professionals and well-educated, leaving the uneducated ones here.
Wan Junaidi said both he and Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had held several talks with the UNHCR on the problem of immigrants who held the UNHCR card but so far, the matter had been unresolved.
“We agreed (to accept them into this country) based only on one reason, which is humanitarian grounds,” he said when asked on the matter following several murder cases involving Myanmar citizens who had the UNHCR cards in this country.
Murder cases involving Myanmar citizens gained public attention when a group of them were said to have cut up the bodies of their victims and discarded them in various places in Nibong Tebal and Bukit Mertajam here.
Since early last year, 21 murder cases involving Myanmar citizens were reported in Penang, and initially, the bodies were wrapped in white cloth and left by the roadside.
Wan Junaidi said in general, the murder cases were considered solved and the police had identified all the suspects, with nine being charged in court. — Bernama