KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia has begun the first phase of a repatriation programme involving 1,476 Myanmar detainees, who are being sent home aboard three Myanmar naval vessels, including a hospital ship.
Home Ministry deputy secretary-general (Policy and Control) Datuk Makhzan Mahyuddin said the group comprised 1,370 men, 79 women, 20 boys and seven girls, aged between eight and 60, Bernama reported.
The detainees were from 14 immigration depots nationwide, with the largest groups coming from the Belantik depot in Kedah and Tanah Merah depot in Kelantan.
“The individuals were identified by the Myanmar Government and their names submitted to Malaysia through a diplomatic note dated Aug 13, 2026.
“Following this, coordination was carried out involving the Home Ministry, Foreign Ministry, National Security Council and Defence Ministry, taking into account operational and logistical requirements,” he told a press conference onboard KD Sri Indera Sakti during the first phase of the Myanmar detainee repatriation programme at the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) base here today.
Makhzan said vessels from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Marine Police and RMN would escort the two Myanmar warships and hospital ship to the edge of Malaysian waters as a security measure.
He said the Immigration Department was the lead operational agency for the programme, overseeing identity verification, documentation, inter-agency coordination, security and logistics arrangements.
“The repatriation programme is part of efforts to manage foreign nationals and immigration detainees in a more orderly manner. It is being carried out voluntarily, safely and responsibly based on procedures agreed with the Myanmar Government,” he said.
Makhzan said the Immigration Department would conduct a review of the first phase, including documentation, security, logistics and coordination between agencies, before moving ahead with subsequent phases involving a total of 5,000 Myanmar nationals.
He said the dates and number of detainees involved in future phases would depend on decisions by the Malaysian Government, completion of identity verification, operational readiness and coordination with Myanmar.
Earlier, the detainees underwent final health screenings, identity verification and documentation checks at Manjung District Stadium, with the process beginning at 4am.
They were later transported in 46 buses to the Lumut RMN base for the repatriation exercise.
The detainees are being sent home aboard UMS Moattama, accompanied by UMS King Sin Phyu Shin and Myanmar Navy hospital ship UMS Thanlwin, which arrived in Lumut yesterday.
Around 850 officers and personnel from various agencies, including the Immigration Department, RMN, police, National Security Council, Foreign Ministry and Home Ministry, are involved in the operation.
On July 29, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said Myanmar had agreed to take back about 5,000 of its nationals detained in Malaysia following discussions between the two countries.
The following day, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the ministry had begun identifying, documenting and screening the detainees in preparation for their repatriation. – September 29, 2026