Although the Rohingya people were initially welcomed to seek asylum in Malaysia, they are now facing discrimination and xenophobia as a climate of uncertainty and anxiety spread through the Malaysian population during the Covid-19 pandemic. Anti-rohingya rhetoric emerged on social media along with some demonstrations by the locals, while the once-supportive government turned against them.

<p>OMG.&nbsp; I have only just realized.&nbsp; The insurrection on the streets, the slowly sinking economy, the political polarization that allows no dialogue … it’s all my fault.</p> <p>At first I thought that Suthep and his fellow demagogues were just doing the normal rabble-rousing, picking on the Cambodians as the bogeyman du jour.&nbsp;</p>