Rohingya Refugees Are Not the Enemy: Defend refugees, unite workers

The recent anti-Rohingya campaign and calls to remove Rohingya refugees from Malaysia are dangerous and must be opposed. They do not solve the problems faced by ordinary Malaysians. They do not raise wages, lower rent, improve public services, create jobs, or punish corrupt politicians and exploitative employers. Instead, they divide ordinary people and direct anger toward one of the most oppressed communities in the region.

At a time when public wealth, taxpayer money and natural resources are being funnelled upwards to serve the rich and corrupt elites, defenceless refugees — including women and children — are being scapegoated for a crisis they did not create.

The anger felt by many ordinary Malaysians is real. Low wages, insecure jobs, rising living costs, poor housing and weak public services are putting enormous pressure on working-class people. But this anger must not be misdirected against refugees. The real cause of these conditions is a system that protects the capitalist class, enriches big business, and allows corrupt politicians to serve the interests of the wealthy. We must not allow demagogues to turn our frustration away from the real roots of the crisis.

Rohingya refugees did not come to Malaysia for luxury. They fled persecution, statelessness, military violence, civil war and ethnic oppression in Myanmar. They are a stateless people, denied citizenship and basic democratic rights, with no safe homeland to return to. Many have survived displacement, dangerous sea crossings, trafficking networks, detention, exploitation and death camps. In Malaysia, they continue to live without proper legal status, without secure work rights, and without adequate access to education, employment, healthcare and legal protection.

This situation is made worse because Malaysia has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, and has no proper legal framework to recognise and protect refugees. As a result, refugees and asylum seekers are often treated as undocumented migrants, leaving them vulnerable to arrest, detention, exploitation and abuse.

Malaysians have rightly shown deep solidarity with the Palestinian people against occupation, displacement and oppression. That same spirit of solidarity must also be extended to the Rohingya people, who are also stateless, displaced, dehumanised and denied the right to live safely with dignity. Solidarity cannot be selective. We must oppose oppression whether it is committed in Palestine, Myanmar, Malaysia or anywhere else.

The oppressed status of Rohingya refugees does not benefit Malaysian workers. It benefits employers who exploit refugees as cheap and vulnerable labour. When refugees and migrant workers are denied rights, employers can use this condition to undercut wages, pressure local workers, and discourage all workers from demanding better pay and conditions. The answer is not to attack refugees. The answer is to organise all workers — Malaysian, migrant and refugee — against exploitation.

Racist scapegoating only helps demagogues, traffickers, corrupt officials and capitalist employers. Malaysian workers gain nothing from hating Rohingya refugees. We gain strength only through unity, solidarity and struggle against the system that creates poverty, forced migration, low wages and division.

We call on trade unions, workers’ organisations, human rights groups, grassroots organisations, youth and student groups, women’s organisations, refugee and migrant rights groups, and all representatives of the oppressed to come together in a united campaign against this dangerous wave of racism and scapegoating. We call on the working class and all ordinary people in Malaysia to join us in defending Rohingya refugees, rejecting hate, and organising solidarity across nationality, ethnicity, religion and legal status.

We demand:

1. Stop racist hate campaigns, threats and dehumanisation against Rohingya refugees.
2. Recognise refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysian law and stop treating them as criminals.
3. Grant refugees the legal right to work, with full labour protections, minimum wage coverage and the right to organise.
4. Ensure access to education for refugee children and basic healthcare for refugee communities.
5. End raids, arbitrary detention, extortion and deportations against refugees and asylum seekers.
6. Take firm action against traffickers, corrupt officials and employers who exploit undocumented and refugee labour.
7. Reject all attempts by politicians and demagogues to divide Malaysian workers from migrant and refugee workers.
8. Demand that the Myanmar state recognise the Rohingya people’s full citizenship, democratic rights, safety, dignity and right to return to their homeland without persecution.
9. Build solidarity between Malaysian workers, migrant workers and refugees against low wages, exploitation, racism and capitalist inequality.

The enemy is not the refugee fleeing persecution. The enemy is the system that creates refugees, exploits migrants, divides workers and protects the rich.

Defend Rohingya refugees. Unite the working class. Fight racism, exploitation and oppression.

Initial signatories:

• Sosialis Alternatif Malaysia
• Jaringan Solidariti Pekerja
• Kesatuan Muda Sosialis
• Gerakan Pembebasan Wanita