Anwar Ibrahim

There's been debate over whether or not they are, quote-unquote, voluntary, and how voluntary they are, and what will happen to the Rohingya.

We also see Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will be meeting with general, now selected President, also charged with crimes against humanity, Min Aung Hlaing early next week.

This will be the second meeting that Anwar Ibrahim has had with this man who is seen as an international criminal.

He is to speak also about further repatriations of another three thousand five hundred Rohingya.

The Rohingya issue in Malaysia is a very sensitive one.

I'm trying to think, uh, unusually for me, of a nice way of saying this, but I can't think of a nice way of saying this, so I'll just say it.

Since the beginning of his political career, Anwar Ibrahim has had the reputation, in Malaysia too, uh, not just internationally, of telling people what he thinks they wanna hear and not worrying too much [chuckles] about the consequences of it because that somebody else can deal with it.

Uh, a few, uh, I think at the beginning of his term, he, he was in China and he said something, I can't remember exactly what, uh, about the South China Sea that was completely against very established Malaysian policy, and he left it to the Malaysian Foreign Ministry press folks to sweep up and, uh, and explain this is really what he meant.

He didn't mean this.

So what's the justification here?

I can't speak for the rest of the region or even nations that have actually received those refugees from Myanmar, but from the perspective of Malaysia, specifically from the policy standpoint of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the repatriation seeks to pacify or mollify the feelings among some Malaysians who feel that the number of refugees coming into Malaysia has been too high and causing various local implications as a result of which this has been one of those undertakings that can facilitate the safe repatriations of Myanmar refugees back to Myanmar under the guidance of the best protocols possible.

Far, you used the word safe there.

I want to put that word to Lucky Kareem, who's in Washington, D.C. Lucky, is it safe for them to go back?

Number one, there is certainly a global racist mobilization trend, including US, UK, all over Europe, and places like India, where far-right ruling parties were whipping up anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

That's all over the world.

So this Malaysian act by former dissident prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, fits perfectly the global trend of ideological far-right direction.

And secondly, the Malaysian professor here mentioned that it is conducted in accord with the best protocol.

Everywhere.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said so.

Anwar says cooperation with SpaceX aims to expand security, internet connectivity, particularly for remote communities across Malaysia.

She and I says aerospace company SpaceX, run by Elon Musk, donated... 50 satellites to Malaysia.

They are Myanmar nationals.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said they include Rohingyas, but at this stage, Malaysian authorities are not confirming or denying.

Because Rohingyas are not viewed as citizens by the Myanmar government and are not allowed to live anywhere in Myanmar aside from Rakhine State, which currently is a war zone with intense conflict going on, no one can work out how Rohingyas could be sent back.

But the real issue in Malaysia relating to immigrants from Myanmar is particularly focused on the Rohingyas.

But the Malaysian government has said, "We've got too many.

They have to go." It's not been listening.

Is it surprising it's happening under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, himself a political prisoner and a defender of human rights in the past?

Well, some of his former supporters have called him out on this and said, "You're betraying the very principles you stood by." But he's not alone.