'You are a disgrace': Anwar blasted for embracing anti-Rohingya rhetoric, rolling out red carpet for Myanmar junta chief

Rights lawyer Latheefa Koya has condemned Anwar Ibrahim after he appeared to endorse the narrative of an online xenophobic campaign against the Rohingya in Malaysia, saying the prime minister’s plan to deport them while reversing his past call to defend the Muslim refugee community was “disgraceful, amoral, and shames the nation in the eyes of the international community”.

The former chief of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) also defended former leader Najib Razak’s decision to give shelter to the Rohingya, described by the United Nations as “one of the most persecuted minorities in the world” following a decades-old genocidal campaign by the Burmese regime that has left tens of thousands killed and millions homeless and scattered throughout much of Southeast Asia.

“Clearly, Malaysia did the right thing and acted in accordance with its international duties and in line with United Nations principles when it previously received and welcomed the Rohingyas,” she said.

“Anwar’s claim that the Rohingyas were brought in during Najib’s administration is also a historical lie intended to score cheap political points against Umno and PAS. The Rohingya influx predates Najib’s premiership. The suffering of the Rohingyas should not be used as political fodder by Anwar and his ilk.”

During an interview on a podcast, Anwar was asked about what the host described as “anger among Malaysians” over the “deluge of Rohingya”, a reference to hundreds of TikTok videos and social media posts using fake accounts that have called for violence against the refugee community.

In his reply, Anwar repeated a familiar claim from the online campaign that the Rohingya have “invaded villages, broken laws, held illegal gatherings and questioned the position of Malaysians”.

He then criticised Najib and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang for welcoming Rohingya refugees in 2016 who were fleeing the Myanmar junta’s anti-Muslim campaign, during which entire villages were burnt, with documented evidence of rape and murder carried out by government-backed militia in Arakan state.

Latheefa, who was once part of Anwar’s legal team when the PKR leader was jailed after being convicted on a second sodomy charge in 2015, reminded him of his call from behind bars to “take concrete action to help the Rohingyas”.

“It is sheer hypocrisy for him now to shift the blame to previous administrations,” she added

Anwar’s comments came amid a spike in online hate targeting Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, largely driven by misinformation and xenophobic rhetoric.

Checks showed that much of the content was spread by bots and fake social media accounts using hundreds of AI-generated videos to turn public hostility against refugee and migrant communities, similar to the campaign in Aceh in 2023, when an online hate drive spurred locals to demand the expulsion of Rohingya refugees, just months before the Indonesian presidential election.

Speaking on the same podcast, which has also given space to anti-migrant voices in the past, Anwar criticised Malaysia’s policy of not granting political legitimacy to the Myanmar military junta, which has flatly rejected international calls to allow millions of its Rohingya citizens to return home.

He said he believed negotiations would make the junta change its mind, adding that he has extended an invitation to Myanmar dictator Min Aung Hlaing for an official visit.

He then claimed that the junta had already agreed to allow the return of 5,000 Rohingya, a move that critics say would likely deliver them “into the hands of their persecutors”, according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which warned authorities that it would “put their lives at extraordinary risk”.

'Do you also want to engage with Israel?'

Latheefa questioned Anwar’s plan to welcome the Myanmar leader as a way to end the junta’s atrocities against its Muslim citizens.

“By that same logic, would Anwar engage diplomatically with the Israeli regime to end the atrocities against Palestinians? After all, there are stark similarities in the fate faced by the Rohingya and Palestinians, both at the hands of regimes considered international pariahs,” she said.

She said that instead of offering moral leadership, Anwar was “echoing the despicable views and rants of xenophobes and those who spread hate propaganda in the public domain”.

“The complaints of some ignorant and indifferent segments of society that the Rohingya pose some sort of economic threat to them are baseless,” she said, adding that Anwar’s stance showed he had “totally abandoned all pretence that he is a reformist of any kind”.

“No reformist would speak in this manner about suffering people who are fleeing torture and death.

“No decent Malaysian will agree with Anwar’s position.

“If Anwar does not reverse his position on the Rohingya question, history and future generations will condemn him, and our nation as well.”

For decades, Myanmar authorities and nationalist movements led by extremist Buddhist monks have systematically portrayed the Rohingya as foreigners who do not belong in the country. They were repeatedly described as illegal Bengali immigrants despite longstanding evidence of their presence in Arakan, now known as Rakhine State.

Myanmar authorities helped create the perception that they were not a native community with legitimate rights, but an alien population whose presence posed a threat to the country.

Among those spreading such claims is Ashin Wirathu, the most prominent extremist and ultra-nationalist Buddhist monk in Myanmar, known for his inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric.

In 2016, when the Myanmar junta launched a brutal operation that included extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and the burning of Rohingya villages, Wirathu celebrated Donald Trump’s election victory, saying they both “are protecting against the dangers of Islamisation”.