Rohingya who fled Myanmar chaos now dread return from Malaysia

As a Rohingya exile who abandoned his life in Malaysia to return to Myanmar, Ismail’s bleak prospects may portend what awaits others caught in Kuala Lumpur’s migrant crackdown.

Weeks ago, the 25-year-old was eking out a living at a Malaysian fish market, one of legions of the Muslim minority group who left Myanmar to escape violence some monitors say amounted to genocide.

But a wave of anti-Rohingya sentiment, migrant arrests and a government plan to repatriate Myanmar nationals drove Ismail back, even though the nation he fled still denies him full citizenship.

“People without a country like us, we have nowhere to come back [to],” said Ismail, using a pseudonym for security reasons like other Rohingya in this story.