Malaysia has asked the United Nations refugee agency to temporarily stop registering new refugees in the country, as it begins running its own system for managing asylum-seekers, an official from the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni told parliament that the decision was made by the Cabinet so that the government could begin implementing its own refugee registration program.
Known as Dokumen Pendaftaran Pelarian (DPP), the program came into force in January, and is intended to replace the current registration system managed by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
“We have gone through the Cabinet’s decision and instructed the UNHCR to stop any refugee registrations for the time being because we are reorganizing the implementation of the DPP program,” Lukanisman said, the Malaysian state news agency Bernama reported.
“Through the DPP, the government can manage data in a more organized manner, including the purposes of data coordination, identity verification, monitoring, and regulation without relying on the records of any foreign entities,” he added.
