Stop facilitating hateful petitions, Change.org

Pusat Komas strongly condemns the recent wave of hate directed towards Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, which has been further enabled by a petition hosted on Change.org that gathered more than 280,000 signatures within seven days.

This petition appears to be in clear violation of Change.org’s own community guidelines, particularly:

• Rules against petitions that promote hate or discrimination by seeking to disadvantage or harm an entire group of people based on ethnic origin, national origin or race
• Petitions that contain misleading and unsubstantiated claims that distort public understanding of the Rohingya community in Malaysia

Among others, the petition claims that the “influx” of Rohingya refugees has placed a “growing strain on resources, infrastructure and social services”.

This claim is misleading and feeds into the long-standing narrative of hostility towards the community. To date, there is no data to substantiate the scale of this perception, especially considering that the Rohingya community makes up about 0.4% of Malaysia’s population.

Such narratives deliberately frame the Rohingya community as extractive, while ignoring the ways in which many members of the community contribute to Malaysia’s economy despite living in precarious and often exploitative conditions.

Change.org should also consider how this petition is used to promote violence outside of the platform, with a rising amount of calls to physically harm them and their homes, often being paired with this petition.

Although the petition-maker did not explicitly mention this on the platform, it is important context to show how petitions like these are being used maliciously. This cannot be ignored.

Malaysia has historically stood against human rights violations against peoples and provided asylum for refugees despite not being party to the UN Refugee Convention 1951, such as the Palestinians, Acehnese, Uyghurs Bosnian Muslims, Chin people from Myanmar and Pakistani refugees.

Similarly, the Rohingya community in Malaysia are here as a result of the genocidal acts of the Myanmar government towards them, including murders and violence.

Worse, the Rohingya people’s restricted pathways to formal citizenship leave them more vulnerable to threats, and they are in need of dignity, protection and humane policy responses.

Malaysians, including the author of this petition who uses the moniker “Aku Anak Malaysia”, should recognise the realities of migration and displacement and engage with these issues based on facts rather than misinformation.

Public discussions about refugees must be grounded in accurate information, not harmful stereotypes or false claims that portray vulnerable communities as threats. Misinformed hate should not be part of our Malaysian identity.

Pusat Komas agrees that the Malaysian government must develop more sustainable and rights-based policies to manage refugee issues in the country.

However, any such policy must protect the interests of all contributing members of society, including refugees and asylum seekers, rather than scapegoating already vulnerable communities.

Pusat Komas therefore calls on Change.org to immediately remove the petition and ensure that its platform is not used to facilitate hate, discrimination or incitement against vulnerable communities.

We also urge Malaysians to stop initiating hate campaigns such as this and to reject propaganda that dehumanises refugees and to remain informed, compassionate and responsible in public discourse.

Hate must not be normalised as public opinion. – Komas, 5 June

Note: The petition has since been taken down for review by Change.org

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