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This research will analyze further about the securitization concept to be applied with Malaysian government’s immigration policy during the pandemic. It mainly discusses about the case study regarding the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has influenced the Malaysian government to implement tougher immigration policy mechanism towards the Rohingya refugees, specifically under the government of PM Muhyiddin Yassin. The paper utilizes the qualitative approach with study case and document analysis as methods to conduct the research. The study reveals that the issue of the entry of irregular migrants made the state government to securitize the issue in order to protect the country’s society against the severe impacts brought by the pandemic. Also, the importance of security and health among Malaysia’s local citizens are the primary reasons why the government had to protect the country against the virus infections which were claimed to be brought by the entry of refugee groups, especially the Rohingyas.

Keywords: Securitization, Rohingya refugees., Malaysia, COVID-19 pandemic