COMMENT | Hatred and hate speech against the Rohingya community in Malaysia have surged alarmingly in recent times.

A recent post by a local newspaper, reporting the tragic deaths of 427 Rohingya in two separate boat sinkings in the Bay of Bengal on May 9 and 10, was flooded with “haha” reactions on social media. In stark contrast, the country collectively mourns the death of a baby elephant.

This painful disparity in empathy highlights a harsh truth: many Malaysians either feel exhausted by the Rohingya issue or remain unaware of the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis in Arakan, Myanmar.

In this article, I aim to examine the reasons why the Rohingya are once again being forced to flee, and to expose the Myanmarese’s continuous and firm grip on a genocidal and racist agenda against the Rohingya.