From self-reliance to structural abandonment: Rethinking refugee entrepreneurship in Malaysia

Abstract

Refugees in Malaysia operate without legal recognition, social protections, or formal access to work, navigating livelihoods in the shadows of a state that hosts without committing and an international community retreating from responsibility. Entrepreneurship, in this context, is not merely a sign of empowerment but a survival strategy born from systemic neglect. Drawing on critical perspectives from refugee studies, development theory, and post-colonial governance, the paper argues that refugee entrepreneurship has become a technique of ‘responsibilization’. It allows states and donors to reframe displacement as a solvable issue of self-reliance rather than a demand for legal inclusion. In Malaysia, where refugee governance relies on a hybrid system of informal tolerance and externalized care, entrepreneurship functions as a mechanism of governance rather than a rights-based intervention. As global resettlement programmes decline and donor support falters, Malaysia's containment model faces increasing strain. Refugees are now expected to endure protracted limbo while performing productivity in a system that criminalizes their presence. This paper calls for a shift in thinking, one that situates refugee entrepreneurship not only within economic metrics but within broader struggles for justice, recognition, and transformation.