Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – The children sitting cross-legged on the floor are a mix of ages but are all enrolled in one class out of necessity. Coming from Rohingya families, they are not allowed to access formal education and must rely upon the generosity of donors to support informal learning centres, such as the one they attend in a quiet neighbourhood in Kuala Lumpur.

“Because of their help, we can teach our kids here,” explained Riyadh Al Haq, a Rohingya human rights activist whose NGO runs the centre.

On one recent morning, they were busy learning the Quran, but lessons also cover a standard range of academic subjects.

They and their families are also not eligible to access the healthcare system, and their parents are not allowed to work and must rely on informal employment, such as at car washes, in restaurant kitchens and at courier services.

Still, life for the estimated 125,000 Rohingya who now call Malaysia home is better than the lives they left behind in Myanmar.

“Because of their [Malaysian people’s] kindness, our people can stay in this country. They can live here. We are more safe than in Myanmar,” Riyadh told Al Jazeera.

Repatriation criticised

However, on Tuesday, the Malaysian government began the repatriation of an initial group of nearly 1,500 Rohingya to Myanmar. The operation has drawn renewed attention to the plight of the Rohingya people, regarded as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities. The Muslim ethnic group is essentially stateless because they are not recognised as citizens by Myanmar.

The repatriation has been criticised by the United Nations and international rights groups given the longstanding persecution of the Rohingya in their home state of Rakhine in western Myanmar. In 2017, the Myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown, forcing more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee, mostly to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The military campaign, which involved widespread destruction of Rohingya properties and the killing of thousands of people, is widely condemned as tantamount to a genocide. A case of genocide brought by The Gambia is under way at the International Court of Justice at The Hague. The verdict is expected next month or in November.

The Malaysian government insisted that all those returning are volunteers and their safety and wellbeing are guaranteed.

Critics of Kuala Lumpur’s policy said an ongoing civil war in Myanmar makes such guarantees meaningless. Myanmar descended into civil war after the military conducted a coup in 2021 and removed the democratically elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Malaysia’s government, led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, has pledged to return 5,000 Myanmar nationals in what many see as a reversal of the country’s longstanding policy of leniency towards the presence of the Rohingya.

‘Widespread sympathy for their plight’

Not being a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention, Malaysia doesn’t grant the Rohingya refugee status but has taken a tolerant attitude towards their arrival.

Malaysians have a religious and cultural affinity with the Rohingya, and there is widespread sympathy for their plight. Many have extended an unofficial welcome to many migrants often making the perilous ocean journey on overcrowded boats.

But that attitude has started to change in recent years due to economic pressures and viral social media misinformation campaigns. Coordinated online petitions calling for the expulsion of refugees and other marginalised groups have garnered hundreds of thousands of signatures.

Nur Sadek, executive director of Rohingya Rights Response, has been monitoring social media content that spreads hateful and hurtful messaging about the Rohingya.

One content creator who has thousands of followers has posted a series of clips in which he mocks Rohingya openly to their faces while complaining to the camera about how they allegedly smell. In another clip produced by self-styled vigilantes, three men are seen stopping and questioning a Rohingya passer-by in the street.

“A lot of the community members are very afraid to go outside and to be recognised as a Rohingya,” Sadek said. “They are very afraid of being harassed by the local people and by some of the content creators.”

That fear also extends to employment, however menial the jobs might be, with some Malaysian businesses reportedly turning Rohingya away.

“Most of the Rohingya people have relied upon informal work, and even that informal work is inaccessible right now with the increase in hate and misinformation. And it is affecting the livelihoods of every Rohingya,” Sadek told Al Jazeera.

As Malaysia looks ahead to national elections early next year, political parties might find the Rohingya issue is too big a vote-winning opportunity to pass up. And the Rohingya, as they so often have, could find themselves the losers.