20 minutes
PETALING JAYA: An unsubstantiated claim has been making rounds on social media saying that a leader of a Rohingya rights group is demanding citizenship for refugees, drawing xenophobic comments from netizens.
The claim seems to originate from a Facebook user who uploaded a letter from the human rights group with the captions stating that the NGO is claiming full citizenship rights for Rohingya refugees. Based on that post, another Facebook page with 1.3 million followers made the same claim. However, it seems after being informed by a concerned netizen that the claim is unsubstantiated the posts have been deleted.
Nevertheless, despite these claims being unsubstantiated, netizens thronged Facebook with comments which could only be described as hateful and xenophobic. One netizen said, “Just chase them out ... they want to work here. People pay taxes to pay help the needy, not for a race who comes here to hide under the notion of humanity.”
The xenophobia also doesn’t seem to manifest in the form of comments, but also through a petition called “Say No to Rohingya”. As of 7.30pm yesterday the petition drew close to 30,000 signatures but a check today saw that the petition has been unpublished.
