Rohingya Refugees in Malaysia

The Rohingya fled to many countries in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world. One of the Southeast Asian countries the Rohingya went to was Malaysia. In September 2017, Zulkifli Abu Bakar, the director-general of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, stated that the Rohingya would accepted into Malaysia and would gain temporary By the end of April 2019, 170,460 refugees registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia. About 147,590 are from Myanmar; however many ethnicities entered Malaysia too. For example, many Pakistanis and Syrians sought refuge in this country.

However, many refugees in Malaysia are still very limited in their opportunities as they have no legal rights and they don’t have any access to many places of work and free education. Additionally, any refugees who are living in this country are illegal, since obtaining refugee status is a lengthy process. After all, in 2015, the Malaysian Deputy Home Minister stated that illegal refugees wouldn’t be allowed in Malaysia. Despite this, Malaysia is still working on improving the living conditions for refugees by focusing on healthcare and increasing the budget for education in order to teach students higher than elementary school standards.

Sources: https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance-in-malaysia.html

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/24/asia/malaysia-rohingya-refugee-school-intl/index.html

Rohingya Seeking Refuge

Throughout this blog, I posted about the history of persecution the Rohingya faced. However, the places where the Rohingya are seeking refuge in is also important. Bangladesh has the highest amount of refugees, compared to many other countries I mentioned. They had to endure various trials in order to get to these countries, such as traveling on water, by boat, and having to handle the hunger, diseases, and death they will face along the journey. Not to mention the amount of human trafficking cases that occurred when refugees tried to enter countries such as, Thailand and Malaysia. Many traffickers killed refugees while they on sea or on shore.

Sources: https://www.mercycorps.org/articles/bangladesh/rohingya-refugee-crisis-quick-facts#violence-rohingya

https://www.fortifyrights.org/publication-20180402.html

Recognizing the Rohingya Crisis

I hope that you would to take a few minutes of your time, by watching this presentation about Rohingya refugee history. This presentation highlights their history starting since the British colonization of Myanmar to present day.

https://youtu.be/Sjbz4k97Fqw

As I have been doing this blog and updating my social media posts, I have noticed that some people are actually interested in this crisis and want others to be aware of this issue. For example, on my social media account, several people had been liking several of my posts that are focused on this crisis. In addition, my petition had been getting some signatures, in order for news stations to put more emphasis on this ongoing issue with the Rohingya.

When I created this presentation, my research mainly focused on Myanmar and Rohingya’s history through the use of scholarly sources. For example, I used Academic Search Premier, National Geographic, and various other websites in order to get information on the Rohingya’s history. After I collected all of my information, I structured my presentation by putting each event in chronological order. For this project, I used PowerPoint, made voice overs, and bullet points to share this information.

While doing this project, I learned more about Myanmar’s history during the British colonial era. I also learned more about the living conditions of Rohingya refugee camps. As more Rohingya refugees flee Myanmar, get terrorized, or killed, it becomes increasingly important to raise awareness about this issue. This way, with more people educated about the Rohingya and willing to help this group, a better life for these refugees will happen.

Updates on Petition and Social Media

Salutations! So far petition, I have 8 people who signed. I am hoping that more people will eventually sign my petition. Remember, this petition is focused on getting more news stations to pay more attention to the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. In order to create change, to create a better life for refugees, more people have to learn more about this crisis.

Petition: https://www.change.org/p/nbc-raising-awareness-for-rohingya-refugees

Also, on my instagram account, Rohingya_Refugee_Awareness, I was to get several people to like many of the posts I made that were based on posts I previously made on my blog. I also gained a follower, Burma Taskforce, a non-profit organization focused on improving the lives of Rohingya refugees.

Presentation Update

Hello viewers! I just completed my powerpoint presentation about Rohingya refugee history. Next week, I am planning to post this presentation on my site for you guys to see. As far as I know, not a lot people actually know what this crisis is or why it is so important to raise awareness about it. I hope this presentation will be able to inform people about Rohingya refugee history and how their past discrimination greatly influences how these people live today. After all, it is not just a minority group getting persecuted, people are getting persecuted.

Multimedia Presentation

Hi! This might be the last post I’ll make centered around this presentation. Right now, I created a majority of the slides that I will be using for this project, along with customizing the animations and transitions used in these slides. I just need to finish up my remaining slides and record my audio, so I can officially finish this project. I hope that through this presentation people can learn about what happened to Rohingya and what role Myanmar’s government and history had in shaping the persecution this ethnic group faces. If you also have any ideas on some new topics I can put for my presentation or about the Rohingya, please write them down in the comments below.

Rohingya Children

In my last post, I wrote that UNICEF was able to improve the lives of Rohingya refugees and children. However, the discrimination and persecution the Rohingya faced in Myanmar prevented many children from living a normal life. One where they could go to school and learn. They shouldn’t worry about their family getting murdered, their house getting set on fire, or them getting attacked or raped. So, how can people help? UNICEF has their own charity that they are running that will help them provide aid to a wider amount of Rohingya children in Bangladesh’s camps and in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. One way to help is by donating towards this cause, in order to help improve the lives of these children. So please, donate. The link is in the description below. Another way is by talking more about what is happening to the Rohingya, so more people can be aware of this humanitarian crisis.

UNICEF Charity: https://www.unicef.org/child-alert/rohingya-refugee-children-futures-in-balance

The Rohingya and the Philippines

“As the first modern Filipino leader with Muslim relatives and the first Filipino President from Mindanao, Duterte’s sensitivities towards the Ummah (global Muslim community) go far beyond that of his predecessors. As such, it remains conceivable that some Rohingya refugees could make a new home in The Philippines, ostensibly in Bangsamoro, where they share a faith with local people.
Perhaps counter-intuitively, the arrival of Rohingya in Mindanao could help to demonstrate that within the framework of an autonomous political and economic model, a growing workforce could actually make the Bangsamoro region more collectively productive. This itself would help to bolster the nationwide argument in favour of federal-parliamentary reforms, in addition to job creating FDI (foreign direct investment). Whilst few non-Muslim Filipinos tend to internally migrate to Muslim Mindanao, when the region’s economic productivity inevitably increases due to peace creating political autonomy secured by a democratic and effective parliamentary model, Bangsamoro could become a model of how a foreign workforce, when arriving in sensible numbers, can help to increased sustained regional economic activity on a win-win basis.
While Duterte’s liberal critics support the neo-imperial model that has lead to death, genocide and the displacement of millions of innocent people, Duterte’s support for human life at and home and abroad, offers a contrast which itself reveals his genuine credentials as a deeply ethical and moral leader.”
https://eurasiafuture.com/2019/02/28/duterte-the-humanitarian-is-ready-to-accept-rohingya-refugees/

In this passage, the author put a lot of information on government officials that are trying to help the Rohingya, such as the Philippines. While this is an important topic to write about there are some parts of the article the author could’ve improved on. For example, the author could have some interviews with some Rohingyas and citizens from the Philippines to hear how they feel about Duterte, since Duterte plans to have some Rohingya refugees relocate to the Philippines. The author could’ve also brought up real life examples of the neo- imperial model and its downfalls, since the author didn’t put a lot of detail on how this model could lead to genocide, the main reason why the Rohingya are leaving Myanmar.

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello! My name is Vera and I go to BSGE. I am creating a blog that is about the Rohingya refugees. I am creating this campaign because I realized that not a lot of people are aware of the Rohingya genocide. Many people don’t even know who the Rohingya are. My goal for this blog is to inform people about the current situation in Myanmar and the history of the persecution of the Rohingya. Additionally, I am planning to raise $1000 for a charity that will improve the life of Rohingya refugees.