General view of a Rohingya settlement in Bandar Baru Sentul, Kuala Lumpur April 24, 2020. — Picture Hari Anggara

KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — The police received 19 reports on the Rohingya provocation issue as of yesterday, said Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said that the police have opened four investigation papers on the matter and would look into the issue.

“I said yesterday that the police would investigate the Rohingya issue. As of yesterday, 19 police reports have been received on the issue. The police have opened four investigation papers,” he said during his daily media briefing here today.

Yesterday, he called on Malaysians to stay calm amidst a purported social media campaign against the Rohingya community.

Ismail Sabri, who is also the defence minister, had said he did not know why the issue had suddenly come to the fore, as Malaysians had previously shown sympathy to the Rohingya community.

This is after it emerged on social media that Malaysians have been spreading vitriol against the Rohingya ethnic community accusing them of being lawbreakers and criminals and also launched an online petition urging the government to ignore tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees affected by the MCO.

The Rohingya Women Development Network (RWDN) and Elom Empowerment (Elom) issued a joint statement denying that Rohingya refugees are dominating the Selayang wholesale market and habitually breaking laws, saying this claim is “factually incorrect”.

Both organisations explained that the Rohingya community working in the area, also known as the Kuala Lumpur wholesale market, are merely employees and have no economic control over it.