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IN 2016, I was a health intern at the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur. In that period, I dealt with refugees from different countries who came to seek various forms of help. Among the hundreds of Rohingya men and women that I met, one young gentleman particularly stood out. Maung (not his real name) was a 17-year-old Rohingya who got separated from his family when his village was attacked and burnt by the military and local Buddhist mobs. Amidst the chaos, he fled his hometown and jumped onto a small boat packed with other families trying to escape, sailing into the ocean and finally reached Malaysia. In Arakan, Maung was an exceptionally brilliant student who spoke seven languages. He was about to sit for a big exam in high school that would allow him to enter higher education. In the blink of an eye, he lost his family, dreams and future that he had hoped for. When we met at the UNHCR office, Maung was no longer the confident person he used to be; his life tragedy had robbed him of his self-esteem. He was ill, homeless and lived the life of a beggar, moving from one place to another to find shelter. Maung told me he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and that he had been sleeping under a bridge. Despite my multiple attempts to track him after he left on that day, Maung never came back.

A year later, on August 25, 2017, the Myanmar military — infamously known as the Tatmadaw — launched a brutal crackdown against the Rohingya people, killing almost 7,000 and forcing 700,000 into neighbouring Bangladesh. The August 2017 exodus created the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, which to this day remains a ‘hell’ for the Rohingyas for they have never been considered for local integration nor for safe repatriation. An unknown number, perhaps several thousands, escaped to other countries like India, Thailand and Malaysia through dangerous land and sea routes. Needless to say, we heard of numerous heart-wrenching stories of boats capsizing, people drowning and children crossing borders alone without parents or family members.

Interestingly, some news headlines tried to downplay the severity of the ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing’ by portraying the crisis as a retaliation against attacks initiated by a group of Rohingya militants. They chose to be blind to historical facts that the oppression and violence against the Rohingya began way back in 1948 since Burma’s independence. The world has not forgotten that thousands of Rohingyas were slaughtered in 1978 by the same perpetrator, and that the Myanmar Citizenship Law was enacted in 1982, officially rendering this ethnic minority stateless.

This strategy of portraying the Rohingya as responsible for their catastrophe is very much similar to how the western media enterprise today desperately attempts to paint the current tragedy in Gaza as a ‘justified’ retribution of the October 7 attack. Do we not remember that the systematic killing, torture, abuse and displacement of Palestinians started at least seven decades ago?

Because of the 2016–2017 genocide in Arakan, the world now commemorates the Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day on August 25 every year. While it is important to cherish this date to honour the dead and warn the international community that such a tragedy should never happen again, it is equally important that we show solidarity with our Rohingya brothers and sisters by supporting their advocacy work to hold the Myanmar military accountable for their crimes and uphold the Rohingyas’ rights to freedom and self-determination. Two global events deserve mention here, as they may prove critical to the future of the Rohingyas: first, the much-celebrated Bangladesh’s liberation from Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year autocracy on August 5, 2024; and, second, Malaysia’s upcoming role as the ASEAN chairman by early 2025.

We acknowledge that Bangladesh’s act of accepting the mass influx of Rohignya refugees in 2017 was extremely benevolent, especially when the country itself was struggling with widespread poverty and socio-economic problems. However, the Hasina-led government of Bangladesh was never serious about helping the Rohingyas or solving their problem long-term. Hasina was more focused on harvesting dividends — material and non-material — from the ordeals of the Rohingyas. In contrast, Bangladesh’s current government led by chief adviser Muhammad Yunus has not only announced that he will support the Rohingya refugees in his first policy address, but has initiated discussions with the UNHCR on the possibility of Rohingya’s safe and dignified repatriation. Moreover, Bangladesh recently expressed its wish to join the ASEAN — a request that if granted can have a bigger impact on the block’s role and policy in addressing the crisis in Myanmar.

On the other hand, as ASEAN chairmanship rotates annually, Malaysia is due for this role by 2025. As one of the five major hosts of Rohingya refugees worldwide, Malaysia has always been outspoken on the Rohingya crisis. But the non-interference principle of the ASEAN has often been used as an excuse to keep member states from pressuring Myanmar to remedy its unfair policies and brutal acts against its minorities. Recently, the Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has urged the ASEAN to speak up and hold Myanmar’s military leaders accountable for their human rights violations. In fact, Anwar — who became prime minister in 2022 — is one of the most vocal critics of Myanmar’s military.

While Malaysia has not been the best transit location for the Rohingyas for its lack of legal framework for refugees and asylum-seekers, recent developments under the new government are showing its renewed commitment and more serious efforts are being taken to ameliorate the suffering of the Rohingyas and other migrant communities. For instance, the Malaysian government is currently building temporary shelters for children of detained migrants and refugees to enable them to have a safer and more dignified life, accessing proper care and education. This was in response to the earlier outrage over the arrest of children along with their parents in horrendous detention facilities. While this may not be the ideal, long-term solution, such moves were absent during the previous administrations. In fact, prior Malaysian leaders had rarely shown real interest in the Rohingya cause. Some even made degrading remarks while describing the refugees and migrants in the country, implicitly portraying them as a threat to national security.

Today, efforts including the gradual reform of the police institution and diplomatic talks with the Philippines to discuss the situation in Myanmar are other signs that Malaysia is showing greater commitment than ever to the refugee cause in general, and the Rohingyas, in particular. Assuming the ASEAN chairmanship in 2025 will give Malaysia a much-needed opportunity to drive meaningful changes and prove that what prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has been vocalizing is not mere lip service.

Two years after the 2017 genocide, I had the privilege to visit Kutupalong — the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar. Thanks to the Equity Initiative in Bangkok and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), the world’s largest NGO, I participated in a trip that allowed my colleagues and me to experience firsthand what it was like to roam within the camp vicinity and interact with genocide survivors. The conversations I had with a group of women and children there sent me a message of hope and resilience, despite the gloomy life in camp. The visit was short, but it was a life-changing experience that taught me to understand better the struggle and resistance of the Rohingya people.

Last month marked the seventh anniversary of Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day. Given other political crises elsewhere, the media has somewhat ‘overlooked’ the ongoing oppression in Myanmar’s Rakhine state while thousands of Rohingyas continue to bleed and die on a daily basis. As such, we should continue speaking about the Rohingyas, and not let the volatile global political landscape distract us from their plight. We should not allow more youth like Maung to have their dreams shattered and their future robbed by genocidal acts of a brutal regime.

As for the governments of Bangladesh and Malaysia, they are now in a critical position — they should seize this opportunity by taking a strong stand, uniting the ASEAN voice, and gathering international support to solve this humanitarian catastrophe, once and for all.

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Raudah Yunus is a public health practitioner and researcher. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Medical College of Wisconsin, USA.