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Hadi Azmi

As a child in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, Faruk Arian remembers watching members of his Rohingya community being stripped of any power they once had, trapped in a vortex of poverty, ethnic hatred and violence.
He was shot as a teenager by soldiers from the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military. Years later, when the Rohingya faced another wave of brutal persecution, he fled by boat to Malaysia, eventually finding safety in Kuala Lumpur.
“People could take anything from us because we weren’t strong,” he told This Week in Asia.
Now, at 30 years old, Faruk is rewriting that narrative – literally building strength to challenge perceptions of his people.

He trains relentlessly at a gym in Bandar Utama, a middle-class neighbourhood, sculpting his body in pursuit of an ambitious dream: becoming the first Rohingya bodybuilder to compete on the sport’s grandest stage, Mr Olympia.
Last October, he was the only refugee to compete in a regional competition that was held in Kuala Lumpur and organised by the US-based National Physique Committee and International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness – a prerequisite for being recognised as professional bodybuilder and competing in Mr Olympia.
“I didn’t care about winning,” Faruk said from his gym. “Just being there felt like I had achieved my dream.”
The Rohingya have endured decades of persecution in Myanmar, where they are falsely labelled as “Bengali” outsiders. A 2017 military crackdown, deemed ethnic cleansing by the United Nations, forced hundreds of thousands to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.


Then, in 2021, Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup, plunging the country into civil war. In Rakhine state, where Faruk was born, the remaining Rohingya are trapped between junta forces and the Arakan Army, a powerful Rakhine nationalist militia.
For many, escape has meant seeking refuge in countries like Malaysia. But Malaysia doesn’t recognise asylum seekers. Refugees are denied legal status and work rights, leaving more than 111,000 registered Rohingya in a precarious limbo.
Xenophobic attitudes towards the Rohingya are pervasive, with many Malaysians deriding them as “dirty” or “dangerous”.
Yet for Faruk, bodybuilding has become a form of resistance – a way to reclaim dignity and purpose.
Stateless to strong
Faruk was born in the small rural village of Kay Goung Toung, near Nga Khu Ya, a flashpoint in the ongoing conflict between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army.
In 2007, his father was killed in a clash near their village, leaving Faruk’s mother to raise him and his nine siblings alone. Education offered a glimmer of hope, and Faruk moved 40km (25 miles) away to attend school in Maungdaw, a town near the Bangladeshi border.
But in 2012, ethnic riots erupted after the murder of a Rakhine Buddhist woman and the retaliatory killing of 10 Rohingya Muslims. Amid the chaos, Faruk was shot in the back by Myanmar soldiers as he fled.
“That experience changed everything,” he said, lifting his shirt to show the gunshot scar on his left shoulder. “I knew I had to leave if I wanted to live.”

Less than a year later, Faruk embarked on a treacherous escape south, paying US$1,500 to people smugglers for a journey across the Andaman Sea that has claimed the lives of countless Rohingya who have drowned in similar attempts.
Even for those who survive the trip, acceptance is far from guaranteed.
As recently as January 4, Malaysia turned away two boats carrying nearly 300 Rohingya refugees. Days earlier, another boat carrying 196 Rohingya was intercepted, with its passengers detained on the resort island of Langkawi.
Faruk’s own luck ran out in 2018, when he was detained by Malaysian authorities and shunted between immigration detention centres. But even in detention, he found ways to help others.
Many young refugees think they can’t achieve anything ... I want to show them that even as a refugee, you can dream big
Faruk Arian, Rohingya bodybuilder
“I can speak Malay, Bengali, Hindi and English, so I became an interpreter for other refugees,” Faruk said. “I learned Hindi from watching movies before coming to Malaysia, but I learned Bengali while working in construction here.”
When he was released in 2019 with a UNHCR card identifying him as a refugee, Faruk decided to pursue bodybuilding full-time. He left behind gruelling jobs delivering cooking gas cylinders and working in construction to chase his dream.
“Many young refugees think they can’t achieve anything here,” he said. “I want to show them that even as a refugee, you can dream big and make it happen.”
Faruk’s training regimen is punishing. He spends two hours a day, six days a week in the gym, doubling his sessions as competitions approach. “I only rest for one day a week,” he said.

His Malaysian coach, Isaac Wong, marvels at Faruk’s determination, given how much the odds were stacked against him. “It shows a lot of passion and proves anything is possible,” Wong said.
Faruk’s hard work has paid off. With the physique he once dreamed of, he now coaches others, passing on the lessons he’s learned. Yet for all his successes, the troubles in Myanmar still haunt him.
As he prepared for October’s bodybuilding competition, his mother and six siblings were displaced by the escalating violence in Rakhine – forcing him to divert the money he had saved for the event to help them resettle.

“I almost stopped competing,” he told This Week in Asia. “But my friends at the gym helped me. They told me not to worry about the money and supported me”.
Faruk’s mother doesn’t fully understand bodybuilding, he says, but when she saw videos of him competing, she cried.
For a brief moment, someone from a “powerless” community stood tall on stage, defying the odds. “She was proud,” he said.


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Malaysia

Rohingya refugee bodybuilder Faruk Arian poses at a gym in Bandar Utama, Malaysia. Photo: Faruk Arian

Rohingya refugee Faruk Arian at a bodybuilding competition in Kuala Lumpur in October. Photo: Instagram/Faruk.Arian1995

Rohingya refugee bodybuilder Faruk Arian poses at a gym in Bandar Utama, Malaysia. Photo: Instagram/Faruk.Arian1995

Faruk shows the scar on his left shoulder from where he was shot in the back by the Myanmar military in 2012. Photo: Hadi Azmi 

Faruk and his coach Isaac Wong share a lighthearted moment in the gym. Photo: Hadi Azmi

Faruk (centre) on stage at the regional bodybuilding competition in October. Photo: Faruk Arian

In Asia’s forgotten war, a generation sacrifices its youth defying Myanmar’s brutal junta

Anti-junta forces train at a clandestine forest base in northern Myanmar. Photo: AFP

Rebel fighters from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army train in Myanmar’s northern Shan state. Maung Saungkha’s BPLA works alongside better-equipped groups like the TNLA. Photo: AFP

Maung Saungkha, commander of the Bamar People’s Liberation Army (BPLA), pictured at their base camp in Kayin state, Myanmar, on January 13. Photo: Khu Sam

BPLA fighters cook food foraged from the forest at their base camp in Kayin state on January 12. Photo: Khu Sam

A monastery near HpaPun township, Kayin state, that was destroyed by an air strike, pictured on January 17. Photo: Khu Sam

A man walks through the ruins of a burning village after a suspected Tatmadaw air strike on January 9. Photo: Arakan Army/AFP

BPLA fighters play chess by the light of a mobile phone on January 10 during down time at their base camp in Kayin state. Photo: Khu Sam

Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda is seen amid a sea of darkness during a blackout in the city on January 14. Photo: AFP

BPLA fighters walk through a monastery in Kayin state on January 17 after it was destroyed in a junta air strike. Photo: Khu Sam

An empty seat reserved for Myanmar is seen at an Asean summit in Jakarta in 2023. Photo: Reuters

Rohingya in Malaysia turn to tech to fight erasure, ‘have an identity’

Abu, a Rohingya refugee in Malaysia, organises activities to support young people who lack access to formal education. Photo: Steven Ooi/MSF

An aerial view shows burned-down villages once inhabited by Rohingya people in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state in 2018. Photo: Reuters

Muhammad Noor speaks at an event in Bangkok last month. Photo: Handout

A Rohingya refugee and his wife look at a computer screen displaying threats and hate speech they have received, at their home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Reuters

‘I’m unwanted here’: Rohingya refugees’ Malaysian dreams dashed amid arrest fears, prejudice

Mumtaaz teaches Rohingya children and teenagers at a learning centre in Penang. Photo: Steven Ooi/MSF

MSF volunteer Muhibullah assists Rohingya refugees with language barriers and financial support. Photo: Steven Ooi/MSF

Myanmar’s Rohingya ‘trapped between hammer and anvil’ as junta, rebels sow terror in Rakhine

A woman cooks next to destroyed houses and burned trees following fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army in a village in Rakhine state on May 21. Photo: AFP

Flames rise as houses burn in Buthidaung, Rakhine, on May 17. Photo: AP

‘Left to die’: Fates of 5 Rohingya boats across Asia spotlight enduring crisis of stateless Muslim minority

Villagers look at a wooden boat used by Rohingya people in Pidie, Aceh province on December 27, 2022. Photo: AFP

Indonesian soldiers help ethnic Rohingya women and children to step out of a military truck upon arrival at a temporary shelter after their boat landed in Pidie, Aceh province. Photo: AP

Rohingya refugees receive medical treatment at a temporary shelter in Indonesia’s Pidie, Aceh province on December 26, 2022. Photo: via Reuters

A Rohingya refugee takes part in an identification process by the local police at their temporary shelter provided by Aceh local Government in Pidie. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Shot and exiled from his homeland by Myanmar’s military, Faruk Arian was tired of feeling powerless – until he turned his trauma into triumph


Shot and exiled from his homeland by Myanmar’s military, Faruk Arian was tired of feeling powerless – until he turned his trauma into triumph.
