Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia is set to reinforce its maritime borders after turning away nearly 300 Rohingya refugees, as reported by local media on Sunday. The move comes after authorities in Kedah, a northwestern Malaysian state bordering Thailand, emphasized the need for heightened security measures to prevent undocumented migrants from accessing Langkawi's waters.

According to Anadolu Agency, the Kedah regional head, Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, stressed the importance of ensuring that no agency allows breaches of Malaysian waters. This decision follows the detention of 196 Rohingya refugees by Malaysian authorities on Friday after their boat ran aground near Teluk Yu beach on Langkawi, a northeastern resort island.

On the subsequent day, Malaysian authorities turned away two additional boats carrying around 300 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency reported that these boats attempted to enter Malaysian waters after the initial boat ran aground. Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor urged relevant agencies to address this issue with urgency, highlighting Langkawi's frequent targeting by such incidents, despite the lack of recent occurrences until now.

According to the UNHCR, as of last November, Malaysia had over 192,000 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with the agency. This includes approximately 170,000 individuals from Myanmar, comprising 111,410 Rohingya, 27,800 Chins, and 31,000 from other ethnic groups fleeing conflict or persecution in Myanmar, which has been under military rule since a coup in 2021.