A representative from the UN refugee agency said on Wednesday ( Mar 27 ) that hundreds of Rohingya refugees who were saved after their boat capsized off Indonesia’s westernmost coast were being forced to leave their temporary homes due to local protests.
In Myanmar, the predominantly Muslim ethnic Rohingya face severe persecution, and thousands of people take to the lake to try to achieve Malaysia or Indonesia every year.
However, Indonesia’s Aceh province, where some visitors have attempted to flood their temporary shelters or forced boats carrying Rohingya back into the sea in recent months, has become angry with the influx of refugees.
UNHCR security affiliate Faisal Rahman told AFP that the victims of last week’s sinking were taken a 10-minute drive away to the native state mayor’s office in West Aceh.
” They are moved to the backyard of the bupati ( local regent ) office”, he said.
69 Rohingya refugees were discovered last Thursday after clinging to the ship of their reversed vehicle for more than a moment. A day prior, fishing rescued six more.
Despite claims by some individuals that more than 150 people were aboard the ship when it capsized, at least 11 Rohingya were discovered dying at sea on Friday.
The victims were provided with house in an old Red Cross developing in the West Aceh region, but tens of citizens stormed the area on Tuesday to demand their expulsion, obstructing authorities to relocate the team of 75 refugees.
According to Lalu Muhamad Iqbal, a spokeswoman for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Jakarta gave the Rohingya temporary sanctuary for humanitarian reasons, but that the UN and other countries that signed the UN Refugee Convention were required to provide “permanent house.”
Indonesia is never a member to the agreement.
From late- November to late January, 1, 752 Rohingya refugees landed on Indonesian coasts, according to the UNHCR, which said it was the biggest flood since 2015.
Some residents of Aceh have criticized those who crossed the border.
More than a hundred Rohingya refugees were forced to relocate by hundreds of students in December, storming a performance house where they were tidily sheltered and kicking their items.
In another event, a policeman line stopped citizens from storming a Rohingya house on Aceh’s Sabang area.
Some Acehnese are friendly to the suffering of their own Muslims.
But some say their persistence has been tested, accusing Rohingya of extra- interpersonal behavior.