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KUALA LUMPUR - "Dehumanising refugees is a carbon copy of what the Nazis did to the jews,"says Multiracial Reverted Muslims president Firdaus Wong.
He said dehumanising Rohingya refugees could create a dangerous environment where greater wrongdoing becomes easier to justify, drawing a comparison with the treatment of Jews under the regime of Nazi Germany.
“It’s like what is happening to the Palestinians in Palestine,” he said during a panel discussion titled "The Neighbourhood Without Neighbours" at the New Muslims Community Conference 2026, themed "Bridging Two Worlds, Healing One Nation" held here today.
Wong said refugees were not simply a matter of perception, but a group whose legal status meant they did not enjoy the same rights as Malaysians.
However, he stressed that their lack of citizen rights did not mean Malaysians had the right to dehumanise them.
"We also need to make distinctions between having the same rights as a citizen and rights being given to them as human beings.
"Just because they don't have the same rights as citizens doesn't mean we have the right to dehumanise them. That's not what we're supposed to do. The way we dehumanise them, that is not what the Prophet SAW taught us," he said.
He also questioned why Muslims in Malaysia should treat refugees differently when Malaysians themselves object to being collectively judged based on the actions of others.
Wong said Malaysians should consider whether they would accept being portrayed as being the same as others simply because they share a religion or identity.
He added that some aspects of the situation could be improved through lawmakers and changes to laws, but should not come at the expense of basic human dignity.
Meanwhile, advocate and solicitor Sahain Puthucheary who was also one of the panellists during the discussion said lawmakers and the government in power should bear responsibility for how the Rohingya communityhas been treated.
He said the community had been treated poorly and given little motivation, adding that the Federal Constitution would dictate what the relevant authorities should do.
