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RohingyaRefugees

02 JUNE 2015 - KULAI, JOHORE, MALAYSIA: FOZOL AHMAD BIN HABI, a Rohingya refugee from Sittwe, Myanmar, in his home in Kulai, Malaysia. He was an Imam in Myanmar but now is not healthy enough to work or preach and relies on the kindness of his neighbors to meet his needs. He lives in a small room in a tenement he shares with seven other Rohingya families. The UN says the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in western Myanmar, are the most persecuted ethnic minority in the world. The government of Myanmar insists the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has refused to grant them citizenship. Most of the Rohingya in Myanmar have been confined to Internal Displaced Persons camp in Rakhine state, bordering Bangladesh. Thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar and settled in Malaysia. Most fled on small fishing trawlers. There are about 1,500 Rohingya in the town of Kulai, in the Malaysian state of Johore. Only about 500 of them have been granted official refugee status by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The rest live under the radar, relying on gifts from their community and taking menial jobs to make ends meet. They face harassment from Malaysian police who, the Rohingya say, extort bribes from them. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ

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RohingyaRefugeesKulaiMalaysia059.jpg
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© 2015 Jack Kurtz
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4608x3456 / 12.0MB
Contained in galleries
Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis (All), Malaysia (All)
02 JUNE 2015 - KULAI, JOHORE, MALAYSIA: FOZOL AHMAD BIN HABI, a Rohingya refugee from Sittwe, Myanmar, in his home in Kulai, Malaysia. He was an Imam in Myanmar but now is not healthy enough to work or preach and relies on the kindness of his neighbors to meet his needs. He lives in a small room in a tenement he shares with seven other Rohingya families. The UN says the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in western Myanmar, are the most persecuted ethnic minority in the world. The government of Myanmar insists the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has refused to grant them citizenship. Most of the Rohingya in Myanmar have been confined to Internal Displaced Persons camp in Rakhine state, bordering Bangladesh. Thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar and settled in Malaysia. Most fled on small fishing trawlers. There are about 1,500 Rohingya in the town of Kulai, in the Malaysian state of Johore. Only about 500 of them have been granted official refugee status by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The rest live under the radar, relying on gifts from their community and taking menial jobs to make ends meet. They face harassment from Malaysian police who, the Rohingya say, extort bribes from them. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ
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