Challenges of Perception for Rohingya Refugees in Malaysia: The Impact of Social Media and COVID-19

The impact on public opinion was actually very real because the concern about undocumented migrants became mixed in with concerns about COVID-19. In reality, blaming migrants for COVID-19 is clearly something that is extremely unfair. The virus spreads from person to person very easily and it’s not responsible to make the accusation that it just comes from one particular group of people. This blame game has been very dangerous, but unfortunately it’s been something that has become quite popular in Malaysia amongst certain groups.