Myanmar’s Embassy in Singapore has challenged a Channel NewsAsia documentary’s use of “Rohingya,” putting the broadcaster’s coverage of refugees in Malaysia at odds with Myanmar’s official position on their identity.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted the embassy’s statement on Oct. 23. Dated Oct. 22, it asserted that the Rohingya identity had “never existed in Myanmar” and cited historical official records, including British colonial censuses, to support the embassy’s preferred term, “Bengali.”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) counted about 126,144 Rohingya among roughly 193,824 refugees and asylum-seekers from Myanmar registered in Malaysia at the end of February 2026.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) describes its documentary as an examination of Malaysia’s response to Rohingya refugees amid political pressure and growing hostility. Its program listing records an Oct. 15 airing, and CNA said the episode was uploaded to YouTube the next day. The embassy statement listed Oct. 15 and 16 as broadcast dates.
CNA executive producer Daniel Heng said the broadcaster used “Rohingya” because international institutions and news organizations commonly use the term. He said the documentary presented Myanmar’s position and that CNA continued to support its reporting.
CNA said Zaw Minn Aung, the embassy’s chargé d’affaires, wrote to the broadcaster’s editor-in-chief to challenge the program. According to CNA’s account, the embassy also objected to connecting the return of Myanmar nationals from Malaysia with what it described as a separate issue involving “Bengalis.”
Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said 1,476 verified nationals arrived aboard navy vessels on Oct. 4. CNA said its documentary described the recent group sent back to Myanmar, about 1,500 people, as excluding Rohingya.
