KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will not send 5,000 refugees back to Myanmar if authorities conclude their lives would be at risk, a government spokesman said Wednesday (Aug 5), while preparations continued for the potential repatriation. "We cannot send them back if their lives are threatened. Myanmar authorities have made no public comment on the plan. Malaysia hosts more than 215,000 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UN refugee agency, including more than 126,000 Rohingya from Myanmar, the country's largest refugee community. The refugees were being threatened with eviction from an informal settlement in northern Penang state.