The Government Coping With The Issue of Rohingya Refugees in Aceh

By: Jaber Ahmed *)

It has already been 12 days since more than 600 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have stayed in temporary shelters in GOR Sukon Lhok, North Aceh. They were stranded on the northern coast of Aceh on May 10, 2015 after bobbing in the sea for weeks until rescued by Aceh fishermen. They initially planned to go to Malaysia but unfortunately deceived by skippers.

Since their arrival in Aceh, the various elements of society and social organizations in the Province of Aceh quickly respond and aligned to help the refugees whose condition was very critical at that time. A day later, humanitarian aids were coming like a flood, either from the people of Aceh, or other Muslim countries. Assistance also flows from Turkey, the Middle East and other neighboring countries which made the suffering of Rohingya Muslim minority as if it were the suffering of Muslims all over the world too.

We may had only heard mazy news regarding genocide operations committed by Buddhist Myanmar regime in order to eliminate Rohingya ethnic group from its country. But now, with the presence of hundreds of Rohingya refugees in Aceh at the moment, the information about the genocide has also been confirmed that the news about genocidal Buddhist regime in Myanmar is true.

In regards to the factual condition of Rohingya refugees in Aceh, tens of people who joined the community called Aceh Alliance Community Care for Rohingya decided to stage a demonstration march on May 19th, 2015. The longmarch action focused in the area of ​​Simpang Lima and move around the whole city of Banda Aceh. The action called on the world to boycott the Buddhist Myanmar regime which has for so long carried out veiled genocide against the Rohingya minority ethnic group in the country.

The urges to assist and rescue Rohingya migrants also shouted by various parties, religious groups and experts in Indonesia such as the House of Representatives and Indonesian Muslim Scholars Council (MUI). Even though Indonesia is not a third country for refugees, humanitarian reason should be considered since they have been survived to death at the sea for dozen days. Some experts have also asked the President Joko Widodo to lead ASEAN countries to handle and help Rohingya migrant issue and consider the possibility to provide them a designated place in Indonesia. “One of thousands uninhabited islands in the country could be offered for them which had been used to accomodate Vietmamese refugees in the past”, said the University of Indonesia’s international law professor, Hikmanto, to the Jakarta Post.

*) The Author Is Jakarta Regional Contributors