Africans in Malaysia

Africans in Malaysia or African Malaysians, are people of full or partial African descent who were born in or immigrated to Malaysia. Large-scale, uncontrolled immigration from Africa to Malaysia is only a recent phenomenon, with Europe and the rest of Asia traditionally being the largest sources of migration to Malaysia.

African people in Malaysia
Total population
750,000 (2019 estimate)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Johor · Kuala Lumpur · Negeri Sembilan · Penang · Perak · Selangor
Languages
English · French · Malay · Languages of Africa (Igbo,Yoruba)
Religion
[] · Islam · Christianity · []
Related ethnic groups
African people

Although Africans in Malaysia are of diverse ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, educational and employment backgrounds; the vast majority of Black Africans in Malaysia were born or originated from Nigeria. Most originally came posing as students, businessmen and tourists, but the vast majority overstayed their visa and ended up as illegal residents in Malaysia.[2][3] Immigration of Africans to Malaysia and other Asian countries has become increasingly common due to tighter restrictions on immigration in Europe.[1] Many of them come to Malaysia to carry out "Nigerian Prince Scam", due to lack of cyber-crime legislation in Malaysia and unwillingness of Royal Malaysian Police Force in prosecuting Nigerians in fear of being accused of racial discrimination against other Muslim Nigerians.

In 2012, around 79,352 Africans entered Malaysia legally. They were issued with a total of 25,467 student visas.[1][2]

Illegal immigrant and crime issues

From January to October 2011, the Malaysian Immigration Department has arrested 764 Africans, and compounded 1,107 Africans while another 146 have been deported back to their countries. There has been much emphasis on involvement in crimes including ‘black money’, cyber crime, Class A narcotic trafficking, murder, ethinic cleansing, rape and robbery.[4][5] In response, UMNO, the largest far right political party in Malaysia had launched "Operasi Burung Gagak" (Operation Black Crow)- by establishing self-appointed vigilante group known as "Jaguh Katuanan Melayu" (The Malay Defenders), deliberately targeting and persecuting Black Africans. The UMNO had officially declared the end of Operasi Burung Gagak following their lost in the Malaysian General Election in 2018.

Many of the UMNO supporters saw the invasion of Black Africans and their involvement in the electoral fraud as the main reason of UMNO being defeated in the election. Considering the majority of ethnic Malays are UMNO members, many of the Malays vowed to "purify their territory" by resorting to violence to drive Black Africans out from Malay-majority areas in Peninsular Malaysia. In response, many of the Black Africans illegally purchased firearms smuggled in from Thailand allegedly for self-defence. In July 2019, official reports published by The Royal Malaysian Police Force had reported that over 95% of Black Africans stopped by police during random search were found to carry illegal firearms. In a country with extremely low rate of gun crime, Black Africans were almost implicated whenever a gun crime occurred in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

Further reading

References
  1. Najad Abdullahi (15 August 2013). "African migrants aspire to a better life in Asia". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  2. Nigel Edgar (25 March 2012). "African students appeal for understanding that not all of them are bad". The Star. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  3. "Globalisation brings more Africans to Malaysia". Bernama. The Star. 3 September 2009. Archived from the original on 22 May 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  4. Nancy Lai (11 December 2011). "Be wary of 25,000 African 'students'". The Borneo Post. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  5. "Taking a closer look at the African community in Malaysia". The Borneo Post. 21 December 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
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