I AM JUST LIKE YOU

My name is Rahman Imam Hussein better known as Prince. 

Born and raised in Malaysia, I believe I am a Malaysian by heart and soul. I love this country beyond anything although my parents are not from here. They are from Myanmar and have been here for almost 30 years. 

​

I am mainly involved in the entertainment industry. Working as freelance actor and model. I have done fashion shows like KL Fashion Week, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week and etc. I have been featured in high end fashion magazine like Glam Lelaki too. Also, I did a few local drama series and countless TV commercials. 

It may sound extravagant and glamorous. I am not very proud of it. Yes, I am not because I have to sell my looks to survive. 

Truth is, I am more than that. I am a scholar from one of the most prestigious private university in Malaysia. I graduated from Monash university with my bachelors degree in Marketing and international Business but couldn’t get other jobs, because of my status. As a Refugee. 

Nevertheless it didn’t stop me from pursuing my dreams and break out of the vicious cycle of hopeless future being a refugee so I chose the unorthodox way for a refugee and modelling was the call. 

But I have always been involved in community work and giving back especially to the young ones. I devoted teaching to 20 kids in neighbourhood for 1 year before getting the scholarship to pursue my bachelors degree. I was also a guest speaker in Tedx and went to various NGO schools to encourage the teenagers to pursue and complete their higher educations. 

So I realised i needed a bigger platform to reach out to more kids and teenagers and that’s when I came across this NGO called Paint the world (PTW) Malaysia. Co-founded by Aziza Aznizan and Lika Torikashvili. It has 15 branches all over the world and the headquarters are in Malaysia and Georgia. The goal is to unite the youth through charity. I was appointed as the Vice President of PTW Kuala Lumpur for more then a year now running crash courses - namely Crash course for Change, Crash Course for Language and Crash Course International for the refugees and locals, mentored by professionals from all around the world. All these courses were conducted online. We have more than 200 alumni’s. Currently, there are in the midst of setting up an academy, known as ‘United World Academy’, the objectives are to integrate the local community such as the indigenous community with the refugee community. UWA targets that through education. There are so many ways to spread awareness and so many activities that could help both communities to better understand each other. So for example, with paint the world, we also reach out to the underprivileged community, doing giveaways of essentials and household items as well as foods with the collaboration of many other local NGOs.

I have always hidden my identity as a Refugee from my past traumatising experiences. Being in a constant fear of being judged or being looked down upon, has been one of the worse feeling ever. But there is only so much I can do if I keep myself hidden for so long. So I decided to step up and come out as a proud Refugee to show the world that we, Refugees are no different than the normal kind. Here is where I will narrate my story of struggle, pain, disappointment, neglect, invisibility, tears and failure as well as happiness, fun, excitement, success, contentment, accomplishment and success.

I hope with my story there will be more Refugees out there who will step up and not be ashamed of our identity. Our identity is our pride so let's honour it.

I am The Refugee Prince and this is my story...