COVID-19 does some strange things to people, but we didn't know it turns some Malaysians into xenophobes.
A Facebook posting, and a fake one at that, recently peddled the idea that Rohingya refugees here are asking for Malaysian citizenship, all designed to garner hatred towards them. And it did.
Some 30,000 shamelessly signed up to a "Say No to Rohingya" petition. These, and those who resort to the social media with their anti-social hate, must have shed their compassion like some insects do their skins as they age. And they need education, too.
Let's get this straight. The Rohingya did not choose to come here.
They were driven out by a genocidal military regime in Myanmar that is bent on wiping out the Rohingya. Those who have this hate in them and incite it in others are no different from the ethnic cleansers of Myanmar.
Think for a moment. Would close to a million people flee their homes in rickety boats and by land to the world's largest refugee camp in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh only to live in makeshift shacks?
What exchange is this? A shack for a house and a thriving farm? Squalor for a good life that was cut short?
Do the 30,000 or so not read? Do venture out of the distorted world of the social media and get to know the real world.
The United Nations' highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, heard — and the world, too — for the first time, the military regime admitting mass killings of the Rohingya by its security forces.
It stopped short of admitting genocide. Mass killings are close and the admission would only strengthen the case for the Rohingya. The ICJ had another surprise. To Myanmar's claim that the ICJ had no jurisdiction to hear the case because the Rohingya were illegal immigrants (despite them being in the country for close to a century), the court ruled them to be a protected people within the meaning of the Genocide Convention.
It will do a great good to read the report of the International Fact-Finding Mission for the graphic details of Myanmar's atrocities against the Rohingya.
The report comes stamped with the approval of the United Nations Human Rights Council. And one more thing. The Myanmar military regime isn't just after the Rohingya, though they are by far the most numerous to die by the guns of the security forces and Buddhist extremists. Many of have fled to Malaysia as refugees and asylum seekers. Of the 154,800 from Myanmar, 101,010 are Rohingya, 22,810 Chins and 30,250 are from other ethnic origins.
Malaysia is a hospitable nation, and we must keep it that way. Xenophobia is a no-no. Our advice to the petitioners is this: by all means fight, but do it for a good cause. One such is to bring the atrocities of Myanmar to the attention of the world.
Better still, be a Greta Thunberg of human rights and earn the podium right at the UN General Assembly. From there, call on the world leaders to stop the genocide against the Rohingya, the Chins and other minorities. Not only in Myanmar, but in every country where hate makes phobes out of its people.
Thunberg-like, our human rights Greta must tell the world leaders assembled there: "This is all wrong. And we will be watching you."