Blinken, Indonesian Foreign Minister Share 'Deep Concern' On Myanmar - US State Dept.

UrduPoint
Muhammad Irfan
Tue 16th February 2021 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi shared a "deep concern" over the military coup in Myanmar and discussed Jakarta's efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan, Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said in a readout of the conversation on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th February, 2021) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi shared a "deep concern" over the military coup in Myanmar and discussed Jakarta's efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan, Department of State spokesperson Ned price said in a readout of the conversation on Tuesday.

Indonesia, Malaysia seeking ASEAN meeting on Myanmar after coup

REUTERS

By Maikel Jefriando, Stanley Widianto
February 5, 202 

JAKARTA (Reuters) - The leaders of Indonesia and Malaysia on Friday said they were seeking a special meeting of Southeast Asian nations to discuss the situation in Myanmar, where an elected government was overthrown in a coup this week. 

Throwing a wedge in Myanmar’s transition to democracy, the military took power on Monday, alleging irregularities in a November election won in a landslide by the party of Aung San Suu Kyi.

After meeting visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said their foreign ministers had been asked to talk to Brunei, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to try to set up the special Myanmar meeting.

Muhyiddin referred to the coup as being “one step backward in the process of democracy in that country”.

Indonesia seeks a safe return of Rohingya to Myanmar

mizzima

Mizzima
24 January 2021

File) Rohingya refugees take rest after disembarking from a boat at Rancong Beach, Lhok Seumawe, North Aceh, Indonesia, 07 September 2020. Photo: EPA

This week Indonesia called on Myanmar to create safe conditions in Rakhine state for the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, as Southeast Asian foreign ministers met and expressed support for the repatriation plan, according to RFA.

At the same time, a regional parliamentarians group criticized the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for “pushing the return of the Rohingya refugees” to “a place that is completely unsafe.”

Around 1 million Rohingya refugees live in camps in Bangladesh, over 700,000 having fled from fighting in Rakhine State in 2017.

Terror At Sea: Migrants Tell Of 200-Day Ordeal

THE ASEAN POST

13 September 2020 

This photo taken on 8 September, 2020 shows a group of Rohingya men sleeping on a pile of donated clothes at a transit camp on the beach in Lhokseumawe on the northern coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island. (AFP Photo)

When hundreds of Rohingya refugees paid traffickers to escape their squalid camp in Bangladesh, they were promised a new life in Malaysia after just one week at sea.

Instead, the group of mostly women and children suffered more than 200 days of terror on the high seas, until they landed this week on Indonesia's northern coast, where they are now back in refugee tents.

Rohingya refugee landing in Aceh dies of respiratory illness

THE JAKARTAPOST
News Desk
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta / Thu, September 10, 2020

Ninety-four Rohingya refugees, comprising 15 men, 49 women and 30 children, were found stranded on a boat 4 miles from the coast of Seunuddon in North Aceh regency, Aceh, on June 24. (Antara/Nova Wahyudi)

Midshalimah, 21, a Rohingya refugee who was among hundreds who arrived in Aceh early on Monday, has reportedly died from some form of respiratory illness.

Lhokseumawe city public relations head Marzuki said on Wednesday that Midshalimah had complained of shortness of breath upon landing at Ujong Blang Beach in Lhokseumawe just after midnight.

Nearly 300 Rohingya refugees land in Indonesia after six months at sea

CNBC NEWS

Sept. 7, 2020,

By Reuters

“The smugglers ... were basically keeping them hostage on the boat,” said the director of a non-profit group focusing on the Rohingya crisis.

LHOKSEUMAWE, Indonesia — Almost 300 Rohingya refugees believed to have been at sea for six months landed in Indonesia’s Aceh province early on Monday, Indonesian authorities said.

Acehnese police said a wooden boat carrying the Rohingya was spotted by local fishermen several miles off the coast of Lhokseumawe, before landing at Ujung Blang Beach just after midnight.

Rescued Rohingya grateful for local support after 120 days stranded at sea

European Commission
ECHO
 3 Jul 2020

 EU partner IOM Indonesia continues to provide round-the-clock care to the 99 Rohingya rescued and allowed to disembark in North Aceh last week after more than 120 days stranded at sea. Concerns are raising about another boat with 500 Rohingya on board, according to authorities in Jakarta.

Malaysian officials have also reported that at least 300 are on a vessel off the Coast of Koh Adang Island in Thailand. No further details are available but roughly, 1,400 Rohingya have been stranded at sea during the 2020 sailing season, which typically ends with the arrival of the monsoon in late May. At least 130 have died according to various estimates.

'Totally shameful': Outrage as Asean nations abandon Rohingya boat people

THESTRAITSTIMES

Jun 26, 2020

Rohingya Muslims on the water off Lhoksukon, Indonesia, on June 24, 2020.PHOTO: EPA-EFE 

 

JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The new Rohingya refugee crisis that is brewing off the northern coast of Indonesia might cast a long shadow over the upcoming Asean Summit, with critics describing Asean countries' handling of the stranded refugees as "totally shameful" in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Leaders of Asean member states are due to meet virtually in the landmark summit on Friday (June 26), where they are expected to discuss various regional issues including the fate of Rohingya refugees stranded at sea who face widespread rejection from countries on account of coronavirus concerns.

Suspected Rohingya refugee boat floating off Indonesia

bdnews24.com

Reuters
25 Jun 2020

 The Rohingya refugees rescued by fishermen are seen on a boat behind a patrol boat near the coast of Seunuddon beach in North Aceh, Indonesia, June 24, 2020. Antara Foto/Rahmad/via REUTERS 

A boat carrying almost 100 suspected Rohingya refugees was floating several miles off the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province on Wednesday after being rescued by fishermen, authorities said.

Police said the boat, found by fishermen on Sunday, was carrying around 94 foreign nationals, including 79 women and children.

Duterte asks Malaysia, Indonesia to take in Rohingya refugees

GMA NEWS ONLINE

Published December 23, 2019 

By VIRGIL LOPEZ, GMA News 

 

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday renewed his vow to accept Rohingya refugees and asked Malaysia and Indonesia to do the same.

Duterte made the pitch as he faced agrarian reform beneficiaries in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a territory that saw decades of armed conflict linked to poverty and injustice.

OPINION: ‘I escaped genocide but I cannot escape Australia’s immigration policies’

SBS Dateline
By JN Joniad
23 September 2019
 

In 1982, the Myanmar government introduced regulations denying citizenship to anyone who could not prove Burmese ancestry dating back to 1823. Now, the United Nations has officially called Rohingya a ‘stateless’ ethnicity. As of today, nearly one million Rohingyans have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar’s military began ethnic cleansing. JN Joniad, a Rohingya man, told Dateline his story. 

 

In Myanmar, I was given a ‘White Card’. I needed this card to travel within my own town. I was banned from going to other cities and I couldn’t get a passport. I had, effectively, a temporary residency permit in my own country.

Rohingya activists slam ASEAN's call for dialogue with Myanmar

Al Jazeera
by Joshua Carroll
03 August 2019
 
Regional bloc accused of whitewashing Myanmar's crimes against Rohingya.

Almost 730,000 Rohingya crossed the border into Bangladesh and arrived in Cox's Bazar in August 2017 after fleeing military-led massacres in Myanmar's western Rakhine state [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters] 

Efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to encourage "dialogue" between Rohingya refugees and the Myanmar government have sparked fierce criticism from Rohingya activists, who accuse the bloc of whitewashing the Myanmar military's crimes and legitimising deeply flawed repatriation plans.

New Sanctions A Positive Step In Responding to The Rohingya Crisis

THE HERITAGE FOUNDITION
Jul 24th, 2019

Olivia Enos

Protesters hold banners during a demonstration in support of Rohingya Muslims in front of Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. Anadolu Agency / Contributor / Getty Images  

In a welcome move, the U.S. Department of State issued sanctions against four senior Burmese military officials. One of those sanctioned is Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, the man directly responsible for atrocities committed against the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group in Burma.

Indonesia urges Myanmar to ensure security in Rakhine

TheJakartaPost 
Dian Septiari
The Jakarta Post
Bangkok / Mon, June 24, 2019

 Amir Ali, a Rohingya violinist who was a member of a wedding band of the northern Rakhine state of Myanmar, attends a weekly prayer event to play the violin at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Tuesday. (Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain) 

Myanmar’s government should show its commitment to the security of conflict-torn western Myanmar to ensure that hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims would return voluntarily, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said at the 34th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok.

United colours of discrimination

THE MOURNG EXPRESS
April 1, 2019
Morung Express News
Bali (Indonesia) | March 31

Khin Mg Myint, Kevin Halim, Nasreen Habib and Dena Rachman share experiences of discrimination at the regional seminar and workshop held for journalists in Bali from March 18-20. (Photo courtesy: the Journalists Association for Diversity, Sejuk)

Rohingya, Transgender, Assamese Bengali Muslim share stories as persecuted minorities 



It is genocide. Khin Mg Myint of the Harmony Working Group, Myanmar (Burma), shows no sign of doubt while speaking about the persecution that the Rohingya people from the Rakhine state of Myanmar have been undergoing for decades now.

FM Marsudi says Indonesia will play ‘more effective role’ on Rohingya issue

Senior Correspondent, bdnews24.com
Published: 04 Feb 2019 09:38 

Indonesia will play a “more effective” role under regional and multilateral framework in resolving the Rohingya crisis, its visiting foreign minister has said.
Retno Marsudi made the comment when she met her Bangladesh counterpart AK Abdul Momen on Monday at his parliament office, the foreign ministry said.

Indonesia to Put Muslim Issues Forward at UN Security Council

By New Delhi Times Bureau on January 11, 2019

Indonesia says it will use its new position on the U.N. Security Council to focus attention on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. But observers say Jakarta should use its seat to put forward a broader range of issues affecting Muslims and the agenda of developing countries.

Indonesia officially became a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council Jan. 1, along with four other countries: South Africa, Belgium, Dominican Republic and Germany.

Four areas and Palestine

( 29.12.2016 ) Indonesian Gov`t Sends Humanitarian Aid to Rohingya People

TEMPO.CO
29 December 2016

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government has sent humanitarian aid for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said that humanitarian relief was collected from Indonesian people, business owners and the government. “This morning, some 10 containers [of humanitarian aid] were sent to Rakhine State,” the President said today at Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta.