Anwar reverses on Rohingya, courts Myanmar's junta — SkimNews
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- Anwar Ibrahim announced on 16 September that he would invite Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing for an official visit in return for Yangon taking back Rohingya refugees, despite Min Aung Hlaing having led the 2017 genocidal campaign that drove more than 700,000 to flee and the 2021 coup that has killed over 100,000.
- Anwar's pivot follows a surge in anti-Rohingya hate speech, hundreds of thousands of Change.org petition signatures, and the July eviction of more than 100 Rohingya from Penang — fueled by claims they "steal" jobs, even though they typically fill manual labor roles shunned by Malaysians.
- Pakatan Harapan has lost three state elections in Negeri Sembilan, Johor, and Sabah; Anwar's overall approval sits at 52% but seven points lower among Malay voters, the demographic most vocal about deportation.
- UNHCR registers 215,600 refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia as of end-February 2026, including 193,824 from Myanmar, with Rohingya numbering 126,144.
- 166 civil society organizations and more than 140 individuals have called for an immediate halt to planned deportations, declaring that "cozying up to genocidaires while criminalizing their survivors is not only illogical but also immoral."
- Repatriated Myanmar refugees face forced conscription into the country's civil war, with male returnees vulnerable to accusations of supporting opposition groups, which can lead to torture and imprisonment.
- In 2023, Anwar told the UN General Assembly that "the barbarism and depravity inflicted upon the people of Myanmar is indefensible" — a position he now directly contradicts.
Why it matters: Anwar's pivot trades a longstanding moral stance for short-term political survival: his coalition's three state-election losses and a 7-point approval gap with Malay voters are reshaping policy toward 126,144 Rohingya, who face forced conscription and torture if returned to a country run by the general behind their 2017 genocide.
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