16 Feb 2009
Jakarta ( Berita ) : With the increasing international spotlights on the stranded Muslim Rohingya boat people in Aceh in the past few weeks, some international and domestic organizations began to intensify calls to the government not to deport them.
The Australian Federation of Islamic Council (AFIC) hoped that the government would not deport the Rohingya refugees because their life's safety would be at stake.
AFIC President Ikebal Adam Patel in a letter to the Indonesian Embasy in Canberra, Australia, with a copy for Antara on Sunday said that the organization urged the government to accommodate the Rphingya refugees within an unlimited time and not to be to hastily deport them to Myanmar.
"We hope that the government can understand this and show their care to the problem contronting the Rohingya refugees who had been often indimidated, kidnapped, raped and persecuted by the Myanmarese military junta," Patel said.
However, Indonesia is expected not to repatriate the Rohingya refugees to the Myanmarese tyrannical military junta for fear of possible execution there.
A similar call was made by the Ukhuwah Jama'ah Muslimin (Hizbullah), a domestic Islamic organization which gave greater symphaty to the fate of the Muslim Rohingya refugees.
Dr Djoko Wiyono, the head of the Ukhuwah Jama'ah Muslimin (Hizbullah), on Saturday said that the foreign affairs minister should not deport the Muslim Rohingya refugees and should not categorize them as economic migrants.
Wiyono also appealed to the government to form an independent fact-finding team to find out the real reasons of the Rohingyas for fleeing Myanmar, their home country.
He called on the government and the Aceh provincial administration to give the refugees protection, clothes, food, medicines and other assistance especially for their children, women, and elders.
Deporting Rohingya asylum seekers who were stranded in Aceh Province recently will be perceived as an inhuman act by a country which fails to understand the problem confronting the Rohingya refugees.
As many as 391 Rohingya boat people are being accommodated in two places in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam after being found floating adrift in boats without an engine.
They were stranded in northern tip of Sumatra island in two batches. The first batch of 193 people was rescued on January 7, 2009 on Weh island, while the second batch with 198 boat people was found and rescused on February 3, 2009 in Idi Rayeuk, East Aceh.
In the meantime, the people's crisis center (PCC), a non-governmental organization (NGO), called on the government to involve the UNHCR in solving the boat people's problem in Aceh. "The government should act quickly to overcome their problems, among other things, by providing access to the UNHCR," PCC director for Aceh, Andi Rizal, said.
The government should also immediately submit the problem of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in Aceh to an ASEAN forum because as a member of ASEAN, Myanmar should also be responsible for the fate of the hundreds of boat people in Aceh believed to be Myanmarese, he said.
They were found adrift in a critical condition in Indonesian waters by Acehnese fishermen who brought them to Sabang on Weh Island and Kuala Idi Rayeuk in East Aceh.
In response to this appeal, Anita Restu Akrita, spokesperson for the UNHR in Indonesia, said her office would continue securing access to meet the Rohingyas in Aceh.
"We are very concerned about this issue. We are striving to get access to the Rohingya ethnic group in Sabang so that we would know what they needed. We look forward to receiving an answer soon from the government," Anita said.
"Hopefully, the foreign ministry considers involving the UNHCR in finding the best solution for the boat people," she said.
Earlier, the AIPMC, an organization whose members are representing ASEAN countries, also hoped that the government cooperates with the UNHCR in finding the best solution to the problem facing the Rohingyas who are living in border region between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The AIPMC also expressed doubt about a decision of the Thai government to deport the Rohingya ethnic group to an unknown destination, an AIPMC release said on Tuesday.
Sharing the NGO's view, Said Nizar, an expert on international law at the Hassanudin state university on Wednesday said he warmly welcomed the government's call for a cooperation with the UNHCR in overcoming the boat people's case, as they are denied of their Myanmarese citizenship by the military junta in their country.
According to him, the government should consider the Rohingya case as a serious problem. They should not be deported if it would mean disaster to them.
Therefore, the plan to deport them must be scrapped because their safety would be at stake, Nizar said.
The Muslim Rohingyas have been for generations denied of their Myanmarese citizenship and were reportedly being tortured and facing religious persecution and forced labor by the Myanmarese ruling junta.
However, the Rohingyas, totaling around 800,000 people in Myanmar are not recognized by the Myanmarese military junta regime as Myanmarese citizens, thus making them stateless. The military junta regime has brutally repressed them, and millions have risked their lives fleeing their country.
The Rohingyas, who are believed to be 7th century Arab settlers whose state was conquered by Burma in 1784, faced religious persecution because they were Muslims in a Buddhist majority country. The Human Rights Watch said in its latest annual report they faced forced relocation, land seizures, and denial of citizenship and identity papers. ( ant )
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