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Iman Muttaqin Yusof

Malaysia’s human rights groups have warned of rising hostility towards Rohingya refugees after a petition shared widely on social media calling for the community to be “removed” from the country amassed nearly half a million signatures.
The petition, launched on Change.org late last month by an account using the name “Aku Anak Malaysia”, urges the Malaysian government to consider resettling the Rohingya in another country or providing “enhanced support in their home regions” in Myanmar.
It claims the presence of Rohingya refugees has placed a “growing strain on resources, infrastructure and social services”, while also raising “security concerns” and stoking fear within local communities.
By Monday morning, the petition to “remove Rohingya from Malaysia” had gathered more than 424,000 signatures – up from around 280,000 recorded by one rights group the previous week.

“It’s crucial for Malaysia to prioritise its own citizens’ welfare and stability while working on a humane solution for the refugees,” the petition reads, adding: “The current approach is unsustainable.”
A backlash against the Rohingya has been growing on Malaysian social media, with posts accusing them of being ungrateful, disorderly and a threat to local communities. “No Rohingya” banners have also reportedly begun appearing in several locations.
On Sunday, Malaysian influencer Miz Nyna Bukater shared a screenshot of the petition, writing to her 239,000 followers on Facebook that it reflected “the voice of the people who have been suppressing their dissatisfaction for too long”.
“Malaysians are starting to ask if we are helping refugees, or are we building a foreign community that is growing out of control?”
Refugees do not leave their homes voluntarily in search of better economic opportunities, they are forced to flee
Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission (Suhakam)
Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) said on Wednesday that the petition had emerged alongside “hostile sentiment, discriminatory rhetoric and online attacks” against Rohingya refugees, particularly following the recent Eid ul-Adha festival.
“Hate speech not only undermines the dignity of a community that is often exposed to many vulnerabilities, but also erodes the values of compassion, empathy and mutual respect,” Suhakam said.
The commission urged Malaysians to distinguish between refugees and economic migrants.
“Refugees do not leave their homes voluntarily in search of better economic opportunities,” it said. “They are forced to flee because of persecution, armed conflict, violence or serious human rights violations.”

The Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, have been denied citizenship rights for decades and were the target of a brutal military crackdown in 2017 that drove hundreds of thousands into Bangladesh. Renewed conflict has since pushed more of the stateless refugees to seek safety across the region.
Muslim-majority Malaysia, population 34.4 million, has long been a destination of choice for Rohingya fleeing both Myanmar and the overcrowded refugee camps of Bangladesh. But Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, leaving refugees without formal legal status, the right to work or access to state-funded education.
As of the end of February, there were 215,600 refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia registered with the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, among them 126,144 Rohingya.


Malaysian rights group Pusat Komas said on Friday that the Change.org petition appeared to violate the platform’s own rules against hate and discrimination, accusing its authors of relying on “misleading and unsubstantiated claims” about the Rohingya community.
It noted that calls to harm Rohingya refugees and their homes had been circulated online alongside links to the petition.
“Hate must not be normalised as public opinion,” Pusat Komas said in a statement, urging Change.org to take down the petition and calling on Malaysians to reject “propaganda that dehumanises refugees”.

The Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (Abim) also expressed alarm at the “escalating narrative of extreme hatred” against Rohingya refugees, including online calls for people to take matters into their own hands.
Public concerns over security, jobs, cleanliness and social harmony were legitimate matters for the government to address, Abim said, but not by making an entire community a target.
“Legitimate anxieties must not transform into hatred against an entire group of human beings,” it said. “If individuals commit offences, action must be taken against the wrongdoers without collectively punishing the entire community.”

The backlash comes as the Rohingya crisis worsens amid the ongoing civil conflict in Myanmar. More than 1.3 million Rohingya have been displaced, according to the UNHCR. The vast majority, around 1.2 million, fled to Bangladesh, while some 5,000 are believed to have drowned at sea over the past decade.
Addressing the record number of deaths at sea recorded last year, UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said that most Rohingya wanted to return to Myanmar but “the absence of citizenship prospects leave them with really little hope”.
“No one would put their family on a risky boat, knowing that the chances of survival are really low, if the sense of desperation is not there,” he said in April.


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Viral petition to expel Rohingya from Malaysia triggers hate speech warning

Bangladeshi security personnel stand guard beside Rohingya refugees rescued from a Malaysia-bound boat that sank off the coast of Teknaf in 2022. Photo: AFP

Rohingya Muslims perform morning prayer to mark Eid ul-Adha outside a mosque in Klang, Malaysia, on May 27. Photo: AP

A drone view of Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in April. Bangladesh hosts the vast majority of Rohingya refugees, according to the UN. Photo: Reuters

A Malaysian rescuer provides food to a Rohingya refugee in November, days after the boat he had been travelling in capsized near the Malaysian-Thai border. Photo: AFP

Rohingya refugees living in Malaysia control a cow before slaughtering it during the Eid ul-Adha festival in Kuala Lumpur in 2022. Photo: AFP

For Malaysia’s Rohingya refugees, survival is just the start

A wooden boat carrying Rohingya migrants is detained in Malaysian territorial waters off the island of Langkawi, in 2020. Photo: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency/AP

Nurul Nisa speaks inside her sundry shop in Langkawi, Malaysia. She is among thousands of Rohingya who have fled Myanmar to Malaysia and elsewhere in recent years. Photo: Ushar Daniele

A boat carrying Rohingya migrants is detained in Malaysian waters off Langkawi, in 2020. Photo: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency/AP

A temporary depot housing Rohingya migrants seen in Penang, Malaysia, in 2022. Photo: AFP

Nurul Nisa, a Rohingya refugee who fled Myanmar in 2010, serves a customer at her shop in Langkawi, Malaysia. Photo: Ushar Daniele

Malaysia’s Rohingya spend another Eid torn from their families

Farouk’s wife gave birth in a Malaysian immigration detention centre a day after the family was arrested. Photo: Ushar Daniele

Malaysia’s paramilitary volunteers guard the main gate of the Malaysian Immigration’s temporary Sungai Bakap depot in Penang in 2022. Photo: AFP

A boat with Rohingya refugees attempting to enter Malaysia on the resort island of Langkawi in January last year. Photo: AP

A volunteer teacher gives a basic English lesson to Rohingya refugees on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AP

Asia’s Palestine? Myanmar’s Rohingya: stateless, persecuted and a new cause for religious extremism

A Rohingya refugee girl in Bangladesh. Photo: AFP

This handout photograph taken and released by Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on September 4, 2017 shows Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (L) meeting with Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (R) in Naypyidaw. / AFP PHOTO / MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS / Handout / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Rohingya refugees. Photo: Reuters

Demonstrators condemning the worsening humanitarian situation in Rakhine state walk toward the Myanmar embassy in downtown Jakarta on September 6, 2017. Indonesian Muslims protested outside the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta on September 6 demanding an end to violence against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. / AFP PHOTO / GOH Chai Hin

TOPSHOT - This August 30, 2017 photo shows Rohingya refugees reaching for food aid at Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhiya near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. The International Organization for Migration said August 30 that at least 18,500 Rohingya had crossed into Bangladesh since fighting erupted in Myanmar's neighbouring Rakhine state six days earlier. / AFP PHOTO / STR

Indonesian students from HMI (The Muslim Students' Association) burn images of the Myanmar national flag during a protest against Myanmar government's handling of the Rohingya crisis next to the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta on September 7, 2017. Protests to the Myanmar government continued on September 7 in Indonesia, as demonstrators demanded an end to violence against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority. / AFP PHOTO / Adek BERRY

Rohingya refugees wash mud from their clothes while crossing a canal in Teknaf, Bangladesh September 1, 2017. Picture taken September 1, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

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Rights groups warn hatred risks spilling onto Malaysia’s streets as a petition to expel Rohingya refugees nears half a million signatures


Rights groups warn hatred risks spilling onto Malaysia’s streets as a petition to expel Rohingya refugees nears half a million signatures.


Rohingya Muslims

Myanmar

Viral petition to expel Rohingya from Malaysia triggers hate speech warning

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Rights groups warn hatred risks spilling onto Malaysia’s streets as a petition to expel Rohingya refugees nears half a million signatures

Rights groups warn hatred risks spilling onto Malaysia’s streets as a petition to expel Rohingya refugees nears half a million signatures