SHAH ALAM, Sept 29 — About 1,500 Myanmar refugees in Malaysia have begun returning home under the first phase of a voluntary repatriation programme that has raised concerns among human rights groups, international news agency AFP reported.
According to the report, the group is among about 5,000 Myanmar nationals currently held at immigration detention centres who have agreed to return home.
AFP reporters saw dozens of police-escorted buses arriving at the Manjung Municipal Council Stadium near the Lumut Naval Base in Perak.
However, the media were not allowed to enter the area.
The Myanmar nationals are expected to undergo documentation procedures before being taken to the naval base and transported back to their home country by ship.
It remains unclear how many ethnic Rohingya are among those being repatriated, as authorities have yet to disclose details.
According to the United Nations (UN), the predominantly Muslim Rohingya minority make up about two-thirds of the 190,000 Myanmar refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia.
In July, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was reported as saying that Myanmar had agreed to take back 5,000 refugees in a rare repatriation initiative.
However, the plan has raised concerns among human rights groups over the conditions the refugees may face upon returning to Myanmar.
The announcement came after authorities detained more than 100 refugees who had gathered outside the UN refugee agency’s office in Kuala Lumpur.
