In May 2015, three boats with more than 1800 people onboard reached Aceh after a long, hazardous trip. Although the Indonesian navy had tried to prevent at least one boat from landing by first equipping it with fuel and food and then forcing it back out to sea, eventually these people were allowed to come on land. Not least, because Acehnese fishermen had ignored the military’s orders and rescued many of these desperate people. Following a trilateral crisis meeting of the foreign ministers of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, the latter two promised to provide the Rohingya boat people with shelter for up to a year, provided that all costs would be covered by external agencies and the Rohingya would be resettled to third countries in the meantime, a stipulation impossible to meet.
Rohingya count as one of the most persecuted ethnic minorities in Asia, as they do not have citizen rights in their home country of Myanmar. Political and religious persecution, but also extreme poverty, drive them across the borders into Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia, the latter is the most sought after destination country as Rohingya can find work there. Indonesia is not just a transit country for the Rohingya, but for displaced people from more than 40 countries in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. As a non-signatory of the Refugee Convention, Indonesia has no obligation to accept asylum seekers and integrate recognised refugees, but based on humanitarian considerations it respects and protects the human rights of those who stay temporarily and thus provides some form of accommodation and basic care for asylum seekers and refugees. (Courtesy of Courtesy of Inside Indonesia)
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