The International Student in Malaysia

The recent unfortunate demise of an international student in the custody of the Immigration Department created only the slightest ripple in the higher education domain. The deceased student’s university posted a notice of his death, a few students demonstrated outside the Nigerian Embassy, but that was about all that happened in a sector that has more than 100,000 international students. Unless I missed them, there were no expressions of concern from our universities and colleges or from student or staff bodies or from the many associations of universities and colleges.

Deaths in custody are not frequent occurrences, but even one death, when set against a background of regular student complaints of harassment by the authorities should cause enough concern among institutions to initiate some firmer actions to deal with the matter. If the existing system for the centralized management of international students is not functioning efficiently to prevent the wrongful detention of students, it is time to jettison it for one where there is an obligation on detention centers to contact the institution where the subject student is registered. Information on the centralized system is meant to be available to all enforcement agencies to help them verify the status of international students. That information should be enough to avoid improper detentions of students. If the system is not functioning to its purposes or worse still is not being relied upon by the enforcement agencies, these factors must be addressed by those who created the system and are responsible for its management.

UNESCO statistics show that annually, there are over 5 million students circulating the globe looking for a place to learn outside their own countries. Malaysia which is at number 10 in the UNESCO list of countries drawing incoming students, brought in more than 120,000 foreign students in 2016. Associations representing local educational institutions urge the government to grow the number of inbound students because of their contribution to the economy. Each student, they assert, contributes at least RM50,000 a year to the local economy, more than the average tourist and a great deal more than the foreign worker who sends out a part of his earning. A Government Report published in 2009 entitled, Strengthening Private Education in Malaysia also focuses on the economic value of the student in private institutions.

The value of international students lies not simply in the money they bring into this country or that they support the development of our education sector. International students add value to our social and cultural systems. They link us with distant communities, transform our classrooms and make international citizens of our students. The international student must leave this country not only with his scroll but with the memory of being amongst a friendly and kind people. It will be a terrible loss to this country and its people if they stop coming here because they fear for their safety.