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.

The West Is Returning To The Rohingya Issue In An Attempt To Divide & Rule This Part Of Asia

EESTi EEST!
By Andrew Korybko
aprill 5, 2024

Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzia condemned the UK for calling an open session of the Security Council on Myanmar since “there are things that cannot be discussed in the ‘megaphone diplomacy’ mode” that the British insisted on. Thursday’s talks mostly focused on the situation in Rakhine State, which is where the Bangladeshi-originating Rohingya mostly resided prior to 2017’s conflict pushing most of them into that neighboring nation. Here are some background briefings:

Q&A: Myanmar opposition minister calls junta claims not credible

VOA
By Ingyin Naing
April 05, 2024 

Aung Kyaw Moe, the National Unity Government of Myanmar's Deputy Human Rights Minister, responds in an interview at the Voice of America studio in Washington on March 28, 2024.

 

WASHINGTON —

Deputy Minister of Human Rights of Myanmar’s shadow government, the National Unity Government (NUG), Aung Kyaw Moe told VOA that the Myanmar people distrust the ruling military leader's recent claim that he is interested in restoring democracy in the country. In a recent interview with VOA, the minister, also the NUG’s first Rohingya minister, called for caution in assessing China’s efforts to facilitate the repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh and delved into the Rohingyas’ aspiration to align themselves with the Rakhine people against the junta, which overthrew a democratically elected government in 2021.

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.

BROUK: Genocide against Rohingya intensifying

mizzima
April 5, 2024

File Photo: Rohingya refugees are seen on the coast of Jurong Mulia, in Sabang, Aceh province, on December 2, 2023. (Photo by Khairu / AFP)

 

The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) warned that the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya is intensifying and it is urging the United Nations (UN) Security Council to immediately take steps to enforce the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures order on Myanmar to protect the ‘extremely vulnerable ’Rohingya.

The Rohingya under pressure: imprisoned, without citizenship, but forced to join the Burmese a

agenzia fides
Friday, 5 April 2024 

Sittwe (Agenzia Fides) - In order to replenish its ranks, decimated by combat losses, the Myanmar army is resorting to the forced recruitment of young men from the Rohingya people and sending them to the front in the fight against the Arakan Army, an ethnic militia that is resisting in Rakhine State, the Burmese state where the Rohingya, a discriminated and marginalized Muslim population in Myanmar, are traditionally based. As Rohingya organizations in the diaspora, including the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK and the Free Rohingya Coalition, report, “the Burmese regime has deliberately forcibly recruited the Rohingya because they are particularly vulnerable. They cannot escape due to movement restrictions imposed by the junta. Rakhine State is, so to speak, an open-air prison for the Rohingya. The junta considers them expendable. It is a cruel way to send the Rohingya to their deaths." At least a thousand young Rohingya men - around half of them internally displaced persons - have been forcibly recruited by the Burmese army in recent weeks. They were abducted from their homes, villages, markets and displaced persons camps and taken to army bases where they received military training. After two weeks of military training, the young men were armed and forced to wear Burmese military uniforms and sent to the front lines in Rakhine State. Non-governmental organizations fear that dozens of people have been killed, "although the exact number of victims is difficult to verify due to the news blackouts imposed by the regime in this region." Other internally displaced Rohingya who have returned to Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, after military training will be called to the front lines if necessary. In February last year, the Burmese regime announced that it would implement the 2010 law on compulsory military service. But in the case of the Rohingya, who were deprived of their citizenship by a 1982 law and thus have no protection or recognized rights, there would be no legal basis to impose compulsory military service on them. 

 

Dhaka urges immediate action on Rohingya crisis at UNSC briefing

Dhaka Tribune
Nurul Islam Hasib
Publish : 05 Apr 2024,  

This file image taken on April 2, 2024 shows a United Nations Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US, on April 2, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Bangladesh at a UN Security Council briefing has highlighted the “urgent need” for action to resolve the Rohingya crisis.

UN Shows Conflicting Approaches to Myanmar Crisis

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
John Sifton
Asia Advocacy Director
April 4, 2024 

The United Nations Security Council’s first open meeting on Myanmar since 2019, New York, April 4, 2024. © 2024 John Sifton/Human Rights Watch

Myanmar’s already abysmal human rights situation is getting worse.

That’s what senior United Nations officials told the UN Security Council on April 4, during a rare open meeting on Myanmar, its first since February 2019.

The council heard of a spiraling human rights and humanitarian catastrophe, with particularly worrisome abuses in Rakhine State. Conflict has “weakened transnational security” and instability has led to a crisis with “global implications,” officials said.

As Crisis in Myanmar Worsens, Security Council Must Take Resolute Action to End Violence by Country’s Military, Address Humanitarian Situation, Speakers Urge

United Nation
9595th Meeting (AM)
SC/15652
4 April 2024

Meetings Coverage and Press Releases

Senior UN Official Announces Plan to Appoint Special Envoy ‘in the Coming Days’ 

 Bringing the multifaceted crisis in Myanmar to the fore, speakers urged the Security Council today to take decisive measures to end violence by that country’s military and address the deteriorating humanitarian situation, also calling for the swift appointment of a United Nations Special Envoy to enhance the Organization’s engagement on the matter.

We must not allow Myanmar to become a forgotten crisis: UK statement at the UN Security Council

GOV.UK
From: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Dame Barbara Woodward DCMG OBE Published4 April 2024

Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council meeting on Myanmar. 

Thank you President, and thank you ASG Khiari and Director Doughten for your insightful briefings.

Colleagues, as we’ve heard, it is now over three years since the Myanmar military overturned the democratically elected government, setting the country on a path of violence and humanitarian suffering.

Genocide Against Rohingya Is Intensifying, Warns Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK

Prograssive Voice of Myanmar
Author: Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
April 2nd, 2024

Press Release

                                    Media Release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK

The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) today sounded the alarm, warning that the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya is intensifying. BROUK urged the UN Security Council to immediately take steps to enforce the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures order on Myanmar to protect the ‘extremely vulnerable’ Rohingya. The British government, as penholder on Myanmar at the United Nations (UN) Security Council, should urgently convene a meeting to discuss the growing crisis.

Ulema urges Acehnese to uphold human values in dealing with Rohingyas

ANTARA
April 3, 2024

File - Rohingya refugees wait in a truck after attempts to relocate them were rejected by local residents in Ladong, Aceh Besar, Aceh, on December 11, 2023. (ANTARA FOTO/Irwansyah Putra/Spt) 

Meulaboh, Aceh (ANTARA) - A respected ulema has appealed to the people of Aceh to remain wise and uphold human values in responding to Rohingya refugees' presence in the province.

‘I can’t speak but my photos do’: how a mute Rohingya boy talks to the world

the Guardian
Kaamil Ahmed
Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
Wed 3 Apr 2024 

In 2017, a crying Asom Khan became the face of Myanmar’s refugees. Now 15, he has discovered his own passion for photography

With no chance to learn formal sign language, Asom Khan, who is deaf and mute, uses his own version to communicate with friends and family in Bangladesh. Photograph: Kaamil Ahmed

 

His own sign language of sweeping, dramatised gestures is rarely fully understood by those outside Asom Khan’s closest friends and family but the 15-year-old is able to speak through his art and photography.

Tripura woman arrested for cross-border trafficking of Bangladeshis, Rohingya

The Indian EXPRESS
Written by Debraj Deb
Agartala (tripura) | April 2, 2024  

Government Railway Police officer in-charge at Agartala railway station Tapas Das said Parul Akhter of Matinagar is being interrogated to determine if others are involved in the trafficking operations.

A Tripura-based woman was arrested for allegedly assisting Bangladeshi citizens and Rohingya to cross the international border. (Representational Image)

A joint team of security forces on Tuesday arrested a woman allegedly involved in cross-border trafficking of Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingya, from Matinagar in Sepahijala district along the Indo-Bangla international border.

The Geopolitical Stakes of the Rohingya Crisis

INTERNATIONAL POLICY DIGEST
Rasel Hossen Shakib
04.01.2024 

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in 2017.

 

To resolve the impasse over repatriating Rohingya Muslims, all relevant stakeholders must engage in dialogue.

The Rohingya issue has surged to the forefront of international concern, casting a long shadow over the prospects for political stability, social tranquility, and environmental viability in Southeast Asia. The quagmire, originating from Myanmar, extends its geopolitical tendrils, ensnaring not only its immediate neighbor, Bangladesh but also posing a broader threat to the Southeast Asian region.

Myanmar Asylum Seeker Crisis Needs a Humane and Regional Solution

THE I DIPLOMATS
By Perry Q. Wood
April 01, 2024

 A more coordinated response would open more formal channels for asylum seekers to seek refuge in other countries.

In this image from a video, Rohingya refugees walk at the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Feb. 2, 2021.

Credit: AP Photo/Shafiqur Rahman, File

More deaths at sea, another capsized boat and more tragedy. This time it is Rohingya fleeing either persecution in Myanmar or unlivable conditions in makeshift camps outside the country. Seventy deaths and counting from the latest incident alone.

Four Indonesians arrested over Rohingya refugees smuggling

ARAB NEWS
AFP
02 April 2024

Four Indonesian suspects in connection with the smuggling of Rohingya refugees are seen during a press conference at the West Aceh Police Station in Meulaboh, West Aceh, on April 2, 2024. (AFP)

• One of the suspects said that he received five million rupiah ($314) per refugee from an agent in Malaysia 

 

MEULABOH: Four Indonesians have been arrested in connection with the smuggling of dozens of Rohingya refugees whose boat capsized in waters off the archipelago’s westernmost coast last month, police said Tuesday.

Funding Crisis Threatens Fate Of Millions Of Rohingyas In Bangladesh: What Could Be An Alternative? – OpEd

eurasiareview
By Maruf Hasan Rumi
April 1, 2024

Rohingya children look at food offered at a shop in the Leda refugee camp in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Photo Credit: Abdur Rahman/BenarNews

History has unequivocally documented a long period of dominance, subjugation, exploitation, and social strife between the Buddhist and the Rohinyga community in Myanmar. As of September 2023, Bangladesh and UNHCR have registered 965,467 Rohingya refugees, half of whom are girls and women. 

Rohingya Refugee Crisis

IAS PARLIAMENT
April 01, 2024

Why in news?

Recently Rohingya refugees are rescued in the waters of West Aceh, Indonesia has once again drawn attention to the plight of the refugees who are increasingly embarking on dangerous sea journeys to seek a better life.

Who are Rohingya refugees?

Dozens of Rohingya killed in 5 months of renewed fighting in western Myanmar

RFA
By RFA Burmese
2024.04.01

The attacks have left an already traumatized community in constant fear for their lives.

Residents of Thada village, Minbya township, Myanmar, mourn villagers killed during an overnight airstrike by the military junta, March 18, 2024. ,AA Info Desk

Junta airstrikes and artillery bombardments in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state have killed 79 Rohingya Muslims and injured 127 more since ethnic Arakan Army rebels ended a ceasefire with the military in November, according to data compiled by RFA Burmese.