Before he flew to Thailand on a fake Bangladeshi passport and then crossed into Malaysia, Mohammed Imran was one of the most influential Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. He headed an 18,000-strong camp and represented them on the big stage.<\/p>\n
In late 2017, at the peak of a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh fleeing violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, Imran paid traffickers $4,720 to be smuggled into Malaysia in search of a better life.<\/p>\n
Malaysia has become home to more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees, the second-highest number in the world after Bangladesh, with most braving the Andaman Sea on rickety boats or paying people smugglers for fake travel documents.<\/p>\n
But Imran and nearly two dozen other Rohingya men Reuters spoke to in the Malaysian state of Penang said their hopes had been shattered because of a lack of jobs and harassment by police as they are deemed illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n
They tell friends and family to stay in Bangladesh, despite the hostile conditions there, and some are thinking of heading back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I would have a life here – basic things like freedom to work, freedom to move around without always worrying about being bullied by police,\u201d said Imran, 30, sitting cross-legged in a run-down apartment he shares with three other Rohingya men.<\/p>\n
Representatives of Malaysia\u2019s police and home ministry did not respond to questions from Reuters.<\/p>\n
Staring at a wall where his clothes hang from a rope, Imran recalled emotional conversations with his mother, who lives in Saudi Arabia, over fears she would never see her only son again.<\/p>\n
Imran\u2019s two younger sisters live in the Bangladesh camps and he sends them money every month, saving little or nothing for himself after food and rent.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur future is so obvious here: we have no future. In Bangladesh you at least have your family and friends around, you speak and understand the language, you have a voice,\u201d said Imran, who volunteers as a mental health counselor, making about $600 a month.<\/p>\n
MENTAL TRAUMA<\/p>\n
Many Rohingya spent months in jail after entering Malaysia but were released at the request of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and now work odd jobs illegally.<\/p>\n
Only a third of the adult Rohingya in Malaysia are employed, the UNHCR estimates.<\/p>\n
Many suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, aid agencies and Rohingya say, as their chances of resettlement in a third country evaporate amid anti-refugee sentiment in countries such as the United States.<\/p>\n
A UNHCR survey of 245 Rohingya in Malaysia in mid-2018 found about a fifth had moderate to severe mental health symptoms associated with depression and PTSD.<\/p>\n
From January to April, a third of Rohingya patients presented at counselling with psychosomatic symptoms or chronic pain, medical NGO M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF) said.<\/p>\n
“There’s an indication of a sense of helplessness among the patients,” MSF told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Rohingya interviewed by Reuters said they live in fear of arrest, detention and deportation as Malaysia has not ratified the UN Refugee Convention.<\/p>\n
A survey of 288 Rohingya construction workers in Malaysia published late last year found a quarter had been sent to jail at least once, and nearly half had bribed police.<\/p>\n
Imran said he knew of at least 1,000 Rohingya who were ready to go back, but they know that means again paying traffickers and risking arrest.<\/p>\n
“My brothers ask me sometimes if they should come,” said Mohammed Irfan, who spent six months in jail after reaching Malaysia in 2013.<\/p>\n
“I tell them if I could take the clock back, I would have never come here.”<\/p>\n
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