KUALA LUMPUR: The government aims to register about 26,000 refugees by the end of 2027 under its refugee registration document (DPP) programme, says home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
He said the government was targeting about 6,000 refugees this year, including 4,010 people held at immigration depots and another 2,000 living outside detention centres.
"Next year, once we get better at the process, we will raise our target to 20,000," he told the Dewan Rakyat.
Saifuddin was responding to Jimmy Puah (PH-Tebrau), who asked about the government's targets and timeline for registering Myanmar refugees over the next two years.
He said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had recorded about 225,000 refugees in the country, but the government did not have enough information about them, including their identities, whereabouts and whether they had undergone security checks.
Under the DPP programme, individuals undergo interviews, police and immigration checks and biometric registration before the government decides whether to recognise them as refugees.
In July, Saifuddin said 4,010 people had been identified in the first phase of the programme. Of these, 78 Myanmar nationals were granted refugee status and 25 were found eligible for employment. Saifuddin also said the government aims to complete the wider registration exercise by December 2029.
Asked whether registered refugees could eventually be allowed to work, Saifuddin said the government was considering using the information collected to match them with employers facing labour shortages.
He said the government could consider allowing refugees already living in the country to work instead of bringing in more foreign workers, particularly in manufacturing, plantations, agriculture, construction and services.
In May, Saifuddin said the government was considering allowing registered refugees aged between 20 and 40 to fill vacancies in these sectors.
Saifuddin also said Myanmar had agreed to accept the return of its nationals from all ethnic groups and bear the cost of their repatriation. He said the matter was discussed during Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's meeting with Myanmar president Min Aung Hlaing last week.
Anwar announced the agreement on Oct 8, saying Myanmar was prepared to accept the large-scale return of its nationals.
Separately, Saifuddin urged the public not to take matters into their own hands when dealing with refugees, after Puah raised concerns about videos showing individuals confronting refugees and demanding to see their UNHCR cards.
"The best way to maintain order in a country is to leave it to the authorities. That means avoiding taking action on your own," he said.