Managing Refugees and Super-Diversity in Malaysia

Abstract

The phenomenon of super-diversity in Malaysia is inevitable, and one of the causes other than the influx of migrants is refugees. Managing refugees in Malaysia indicates the loopholes in a collection of literature and practices. This article is a research note addressing the contemporary findings on challenges in managing refugees. Also, it discusses the timeline of migration in this country, which occurred in three contexts of before, during and post-colonial periods. Although Malaysia is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention of 1951, it still hosts more than a hundred thousand refugees of various origins. Thus, the challenges demand the state to deliberately manage arising issues on security, logistical accommodation, legal aid, and health provision. Following these new challenges and current demands, the government must move forward with effective and efficient ways of learning the best practices from the developed nations to manage refugees with a paradigm shift of accepting super-diversity and refugees as a reality rather than as issues. Institutional change is necessary to review the "paper citizens" mindset into pragmatic management on new possible markets and talents for human capital and development.