Myanmar migrants returned to war-torn nation from Malaysia

Nearly 1,500 Myanmar migrants returned to their war-torn nation from Malaysia on Sunday (October 4), according to a Myanmar Navy official. The migrants disembarked from three ships at the Myanmar Navy base in Thanlyin around 7:30 am, as reported by AFP journalists. Hundreds of families gathered to collect their relatives outside the base, where vehicles were parked to transport them away.

Kyaw Myint, a 55-year-old man seeking to collect his three grandchildren, expressed concern about them being conscripted by the military or ethnic armed groups. He also noted that they have not heard from his grandchildren since their detention in Malaysia for over a year and a half. Kyaw Myint fears his grandchildren may also be at risk of conscription.

The repatriation scheme, announced by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, involved the transfer of 1,476 migrants from three ships that left Malaysia on Tuesday. The first of 5,000 migrants that Malaysia agreed to return under the agreement with Myanmar, but the United Nations (UN) warns that conditions in Myanmar, plagued by civil war since a 2021 military coup, make safe homecomings uncertain.

The arrivals included 27 children and 79 women, along with 1,370 adult men. Myanmar state television broadcast footage of the migrants participating in aerobics classes on a ship deck, wearing T-shirts that read "Happy voyage back to motherland." However, human rights organizations remain concerned about the treatment of returnees, given the ongoing violence and human rights abuses in Myanmar.