SUNGAI BULOH: Those who are holding United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cards and are registered under the Tracing Refugees Information System (TRIS) programme will be provided proper assistance and benefits, says Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.
The Home Minister said this includes job opportunities, adding that a National Security Council (NSC) study is underway to allow refugees to secure jobs in certain sectors legally.
"Through the NSC, we're looking into the possibility of providing job opportunities locally to refugees and provide training in certain sectors," said Hamzah.
He added that the sectors are plantations, construction and manufacturing.
"We will try to help and the way is by getting them registered under TRIS," he told the media here on Wednesday (Sept 7).
Hamzah also said that TRIS aims to consolidate the data on refugees in the country who are UNHCR cardholders.
He added that there were about 185,000 UNHCR cardholders in Malaysia, or possibly higher.
"According to data from the UNHCR office and through intelligence, there were initially 180,000 UNHCR card holders," he said.
"Over time, we noticed that the number increased to 185,000 people. Hence, through TRIS we aim to consolidate the data to figure out the actual number," added Hamzah after his work visit at a TRIS registration centre in Damansara Sentral here.
TRIS, which started in 2017, is Malaysia's database system on UNHCR cardholders and asylum seekers in addition to updating the management and profile processes along with the data collection, registration, profile storage, analysis and reporting processes for the Malaysian government.
Hamzah said the ministry would also require the system to have even more comprehensive details such as marriage status and information on spouses and children.
He said this is important as there are some refugees who have stayed in the country for over 30 years.
He also said that the information is also needed for security purposes.
Commenting on the proposal by NSC to shut down the UNHCR commissioner's office in Malaysia on Tuesday (Sept 6), Hamzah said there would be a discussion between relevant parties before making a decision.
