PASIR GUDANG, June 22 — Rohingya refugees in Malaysia need not worry that they won’t be accepted into local colleges and universities, whether public or private, if they have the qualifications for it, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said today.

He gave an assurance that admission for Rohingya will not be done arbitrarily.

"Not all ethnic Rohingya are as we perceive them to be, as some are qualified. Malaysia is a country where we have many international students, and the Rohingya are among them.

"If the Rohingya candidate is qualified and can afford the fees, they can apply to continue their studies at higher education institutions in certain fields with limited places.

"For them, private higher education institutions are indeed a possible option,” he told reporters at the Ibrahim Sultan Polytechnic here.

He was responding to critics who claimed that the government’s move to let Rohingya refugees further their studies in local tertiary institutions could threaten Malaysia’s sovereignty.

Mohamed Khaled, who is the Kota Tinggi MP, also made it clear that not all higher education institutions accept Rohingya for admission to universities.

"Not at all. We have to understand that this situation is not like selling something by the roadside.

"To enter university, one needs to have merit, qualification, and not everyone has that,” he said.

Mohamed Khaled said the Malaysian perception of Rohingya refugees needs to be corrected.

He said besides acting humanely towards fellow Muslims, better access to education also provides the opportunity for Rohingya students to educate their own community to not cause problems when they leave Malaysia.

"There is nothing to be afraid of for wanting to make a person successful and let the correct their community.

"If we don’t start somewhere, they will cause problems for us,” he said, adding that the Rohingya community is small and that not all are going to university. Adviser to the Higher Education Ministry, Professor Emeritus Morshidi Sirat, was reported saying that Rohingya refugees who wanted to further their studies in Malaysia could do so at the International Islamic University of Malaysia.

He added that their studies would be funded by the Qatar Fund for Development, totalling US$50 million (RM231 million) which had been received before 2020.