Rohingya refugees in Malaysia should be issued with a special immigration card to identify and confer them with legal status, Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) special envoy to Myanmar, Syed Hamid Albar, suggested today.

Instead of relying on the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) card, which identifies refugees, Syed Hamid said his proposed new system would enable the Rohingya to be legally employed and to enrol their children in government schools.

"We must have a system of registration. It would be easy for them to get jobs and make them not illegal.

"A card system like the immigration card can be issued to them," he told a press conference after handing out welfare aid to the Rohingya community in Selayang, near Kuala Lumpur.