The ‘impossible’ life of Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees

Aljazeera
By Aisyah Llewellyn
Published On 20 Jun 2024

The first group of Rohingya refugees was found off Aceh in June 2020 [Antara Foto/Rahmad via Reuters]

Aceh and Medan, Indonesia - Gura Amin spends 12 hours a day, six days a week packing boxes in a Malaysian factory.

The 22-year-old Rohingya refugee makes about 2,400 Malaysian ringgit ($510) a month, which he uses for his daily expenses and to pay off a 10,000 Malaysian ringgit ($2,123) debt to the people who brought him across the sea from Indonesia.

Rohingya mark Eid in Indonesia limbo after treacherous sea voyage

M today
Published April 13, 2024 

Rohingya refugees take part in Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, at a temporary shelter in Meulaboh, Indonesia's Aceh province on April 10, 2024.

 

MEUABOH (INDONESIA) — At a damaged temporary shelter in western Indonesia, Rohingya men slick their hair with gel while women apply make-up and colourful hijabs to look the part for prayers at the start of Eid-al-Fitr festivities.

Rohingya crisis in Indonesia a ‘ticking time bomb’ if political indifference, misinformation continue: analysts

South China Morning Post
Johannes Nugroho
Published: 6 Apr 2024

• Analysts point to social-media disinformation to ‘discredit’ and ‘demonise’ Rohingya refugees in the lead-up to the presidential election in February
• They say the government has not been inclined to counter such narratives, which have stoked paranoia about the refugees and led to conflict
  

Rohingya refugees rest in a temporary shelter at the Indonesian Red Cross Office, after being evacuated from the sea at Meulaboh, West Aceh, Indonesia, on March 22. Photo: EPA-EFE

 

The orange truck crammed with 75 Rohingya survivors of a capsized boat was told to hurry along by Indonesian police in Beureugang, West Aceh, as dozens of angry villagers gave chase, shouting “[we] reject the presence of refugees here!”
Footage of the incident on March 21 was screened by a number of television channels across Indonesia and observers say the growing hostility is nothing new, attributing it to misinformation campaigns and political indifference towards the plight of Rohingya refugees in the country.

Indonesian interest must be considered in Rohingya refugee issue: Govt

ANTARA
April 5, 2024 

Rohingnya migrants get a health check upon arrival at the Meulaboh Jetty Harbor, West Aceh, Aceh, Thursday (March 21, 2024). ANTARA FOTO/Syifa Yulinnas/Lmo/foc.

Banda Aceh, Aceh (ANTARA) - The Aceh Office of Indonesia's Law and Human Rights Ministry stressed that the handling of Rohingya refugees in Aceh must take into account the country's national interest.

Rohingya rescued off Indonesia relocated after local anger

CNA
27 Mar 2024

Rohingya refugees wait to be rescued from the hull of their capsized boat as a National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) vessel approaches in waters some 29km off west Aceh on Mar 21, 2024. (Photo: AFP/Zahlul Akbar)

JAKARTA: Dozens of Rohingya refugees saved after their boat capsized off Indonesia's westernmost coast last week have been forced from their temporary shelter due to local protests, a United Nations refugee agency official said on Wednesday (Mar 27).

11 Rohingya found dead after Indonesia boat capsize: officials

ARAB NEWS
AFP
March 25, 2024

Rohingya refugees hold a morning prayer in a temporary shelter at the Indonesian Red Cross Office, after being evacuated from the sea at Meulaboh, West Aceh, Indonesia. (AP)

•  The head of the local search and rescue operation, Muhammad Fathur Rachman said nearly half-a-dozen Rohingya were found dead at sea 14 nautical miles from shore
  

MEULABOH: The bodies of at least 11 Rohingya refugees have been recovered off Indonesia’s westernmost coast after their boat believed to be carrying around 150 people capsized last week, officials said Monday.

Eleven Rohingya found dead after Indonesia boat capsize: UN

TRT World
March 25'2024 

UN officials say they have recovered the bodies of at least 11 Rohingya refugees who were fleeing from violence-ridden Myanmar on boat. 

Thousands risk their lives each year on long and expensive sea journeys in flimsy boats to cross to Malaysia or Indonesia. / Photo: AFP

The bodies of at least eleven Rohingya refugees have been recovered off Indonesia's westernmost coast after their boat believed to be carrying around 150 people capsized last week, UN officials say.

Six more bodies are found days after a boat of Rohingya refugees capsized off Indonesia

abc News
ByREZA SAIFULLAH Associated Press and EDNA TARIGAN Associated Press
March 25, 2024, 

Local authorities say six more bodies of Rohingya refugees have been found at sea off Indonesia after a boat with more than 150 people aboard capsized last week.

The bodies of the six women were found off the coast of Aceh province, search and rescue officials said in a statement. Five bodies were found over the weekend.

Indonesia recovers two bodies after Rohingya boat capsizes off Aceh

REUTERS
March 23, 2024

Rescuers carry the body of a Rohingya refugee recovered at sea after the boat they were on capsized off the coast near Calang, Aceh Jaya Regency, Aceh, Indonesia, March 23, 2024, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Syifa Yulinnas via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights

ACEH JAYA, Indonesia, March 23 (Reuters) - Indonesian authorities recovered two bodies from the shores of West Aceh on Saturday and said local fishermen reported several other drowning victims washed up after a vessel carrying Rohingya migrants capsized off the coast earlier this week.

More than 70 Rohingya were "presumed dead or missing", which if confirmed would be the biggest loss of life in such an incident so far this year, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday. Seventy-five people were rescued.

ACEH JAYA, Indonesia, March 23 (Reuters) - Indonesian authorities recovered two bodies from the shores of West Aceh on Saturday and said local fishermen reported several other drowning victims washed up after a vessel carrying Rohingya migrants capsized off the coast earlier this week.

Indonesian fishermen rescue dozens of Rohingya after boat capsizes

REUTERS

March 20, 2024

JAKARTA, March 20 (Reuters) - Indonesian fishermen were scrambling on Wednesday to rescue dozens of Rohingya after high tides capsized their boat in waters off the province of Aceh, a regional fishing chief said.

 
The United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR) estimates about 2,000 Rohingya have reached Indonesia since last October, among droves of the persecuted religious minority in Myanmar who fled to the Southeast Asia nation over the past year, mostly to Aceh.

Boats carrying scores of Rohingya refugees capsize off Indonesia: fishermen

ARAB NEWS
AFP
March 20, 2024

Ethnic Rohingya people rescued from their capsized boat rest at a local government building in Samatiga, Aceh province, Indonesia, on Mar. 20, 2024.( AP)

An Indonesian resident transports Rohingya Muslim refugees on a motorbike rickshaw to the Samatiga District Office after Indonesian fishermen rescued dozens of Rohingya after high tides capsized their boat in waters off the West Aceh, in Aceh province, Indonesia, on Mar. 20, 2024. (Reuters)

• A fisherman saw the Rohingyas at 8:00 am (0100 GMT) with their boat sinking
• The Rohingya boat had capsized off Kuala Bubon beach in West Aceh

Fake news, online hate swell Indonesia anti-Rohingya sentiment

France 24
Issued on: 03/02/2024 

Jakarta (AFP) – Arriving on a rickety boat in western Indonesia from squalid Bangladesh camps after weeks at sea late last year, hundreds of Rohingya refugees came to shore only to be turned around and pushed back. 

In December, hundreds of people entered a government building in Banda Aceh hosting 137 Rohingya, kicking refugees' belongings and demanding they be deported © CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN / AFP/File 

 

The persecuted Myanmar minority were previously welcomed in the ultra-conservative Aceh province, with many locals sympathetic because of their own long history of war. But a wave of more than 1,500 refugees in recent months has been treated differently.

Out of options, Rohingya are fleeing Myanmar and Bangladesh by boat despite soaring death toll

AP
KRISTEN GELINEAU
February 1, 2024

SYDNEY (AP) — Across a treacherous stretch of water, the Rohingya came by the thousands, then died by the hundreds. And though they know the dangers of fleeing by boat, many among this persecuted people say they will not stop — because the world has left them with no other choice.

Rohingya refugees in Indonesia still hope for a better future

Al Jazeera
By Jessica Washington
Published On 26 Jan 202426 Jan 2024

On the beach and in a car park, Rohingya refugees are taking shelter wherever they can amid a hostile reception in Aceh.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says more than 70 percent of the Rohingya who have arrived in Indonesia in recent months are women and children. [Jessica Washington/Al Jazeera]

Pidie, Indonesia – In December, Abdul Karim boarded a wooden boat from Bangladesh with his wife and two sons, with aspirations for a better life for the whole family.

Rohingya, politics and disinformation in Indonesia

INDONESIA AT MELBORNE
by Chris Chaplin
23 January 2024 

Indonesia has attracted global attention for growing public anti-Rohingya sentiment. In December, university students forcibly demanded the eviction of Rohingya refugees in the city of Banda Aceh. Videos have gone viral of demonstrators – including women and children – dancing and kicking the belongings of refugees.

Rohingya Refugees and the Shifting Tide in Indonesia

THE I DIPLOMAT
By HuiYin Chuah and Jennifer Vallentine
January 23, 2024

Aceh’s growing hostility toward Rohingya arrivals proves that international, regional, and federal support is essential for sustainable community-driven responses.

Protesters burn tires during a protest rejecting Rohingya refugees in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Reza Saifullah

In the span of a month between mid-November and mid-December of 2023, nine boats carrying 1,543 Rohingya disembarked in Aceh, Indonesia. It was the largest number of arrivals since the so-called 2015 Andaman Sea Crisis.

Assault on the Powerless

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Daily Brief, January 16, 2024 

Transcript

It was an appalling orgy of hate-driven violence: screaming young men against defenseless families and children. And it’s part of a disturbing global trend.

On December 27, rampaging students smashed through police lines and stormed a makeshift refugee shelter in a parking garage in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. More than 100 rioters then set upon some 137 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children temporarily placed there.

HRW calls on Indonesia to protect Rohingya refugees

JURIST
Shashank Pandey | The West Bengal National U. of Juridical Sciences, IN
January 16, 2024

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called Tuesday on Indonesia to safeguard the well-being of Rohingya refugees who have recently arrived in the country. This appeal follows several reported incidents of Indonesia pushing back boats carrying Rohingya refugees.

Indonesia: Protect Newly Arrived Rohingya Refugees

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
January 16, 2024

Investigate, Prevent Anti-Rohingya Violence in Aceh

Ethnic Rohingya women and children board a truck as they are being relocated from their temporary shelter at the basement of a community hall following a protest rejecting Rohingya refugees in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. © 2023 AP Photo/Reza Saifullah

(Jakarta) – Indonesian authorities should immediately stop all pushbacks of boats carrying ethnic Rohingya refugees, and investigate and end all assaults on refugees, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should allow them to disembark in the nearest safe port, provide protection and humanitarian assistance, and investigate online incitement of violence against them.

Indonesian Church group slams anti-Rohingya campaign

UCA News
Published: January 06, 2024 

Hundreds of Muslim refugees have arrived in the western region of the country from Bangladesh in recent week.

Newly arrived Rohingya refugees rest at a beach on Sabang island in Indonesia's Aceh province. (Photo:Chaideer Mayhuddin/AFP) 

Catholic charity Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) has joined other groups to deplore the ongoing smear campaign on social media sites vilifying Rohingya refugees in Indonesia. 

 

A series of anti-Rohingya posts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X, formerly Twitter, prompted the Indonesian government and media outlets to publish fact-checked articles over the past few days.