With 17.000 islands - of which around 6,000 are uninhabited - could Indonesia provide an island for the Rohingya refugees?
Can Indonesia provide an island for the Rohingya refugees? International relations expert from the Institute of Social and Political Sciences in Jakarta, Zein Latuconsina on Tuesday (May 19) said Indonesia can accommodate the Rohingya refugees stranded in Aceh.
“There are thousands of islands that are uninhabited across the archipelago that can be used to accommodate the Rohingya refugees,” said Mr Zein. “Indonesia can play an active role and give help just like in the past, when it sheltered Vietnamese refugees in the Riau islands.”
Of the more than 17,000 islands in the Indonesian archipelago, around 6,000 are uninhabited.
However, in the case of the Rohingya refugees, it will depend on the wisdom of the government to resolve the issue. “Actually, this is an opportunity for Indonesia to prove to the international community that it can tackle the Rohingya problem,” said Mr Zein.
He added that Indonesia can offer help to this humanitarian crisis, because Malaysia and Vietnam will not accommodate the refugees.
“After that, ASEAN members can consolidate and respond to the humanitarian problem,” said Mr Zein. “ASEAN countries' wish to discuss the humanitarian disaster has already been rejected by the Myanmar government. This shows there isn’t any good faith from Myanmar.”
He added: “ASEAN needs to take a strong position and respond to Myanmar’s refusal; the international community too has to get involved and investigate if this can be categorised as ethnic cleansing.”
Rohingya migrant recounts escape to India
Mohammad Kareem, from Myanmar's Rakhine state, wants to trace his family and bring everyone to a place of safety.
Sitting in a small clearing in the cramped refugee camp he calls home, Mohammad Kareem cuts a stark figure.
His eyes are intense, flickering with a quiet rage, and his body language forlorn. Mohammad incessantly chews on betel nut, almost as if to distract himself from the horrors he's trying hard to forget.
Removed from all the chatter around him, Mohammad is a lonely figure in the middle of a lively camp where neighbours mill about outside their darkened tarpaulin homes and conversation serves as comfort.
But I soon realise why Mohammad appears tuned out. He's new here. New to this camp, new to the city of Hyderabad, new to India - and new to the harsh reality of being separated from his wife, daughter, mother and sister.
Mohammad says he is 32 years old and that he is from Rakhine state in Myanmar.
He arrived in Hyderabad three days ago, he says, and headed straight to this place, known to Rohingya migrants in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad as "camp one", in Balapur.
This is a place where many in the community seek to reboot their lives, starting with freeing themselves from the constant fear of persecution they feel back home.
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| "They come and burn our houses and our mosques, torture and kill us to drive us away," says Mohammad Kareem [Neha Tara Mehta/Al Jazeera] |
Here is his account: "The Buddhists don't want Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. They tell us that we don't belong to Myanmar.
"They say we belong to Bangladesh, India, Malaysia ... anywhere but Myanmar. They tell us we need to go away. They come and burn our houses and our mosques, torture and kill us to drive us away.
"We can't continue living in a land where we have no peace and no hope for justice. That's why we risk our lives to get out of the country.
"The way out of Myanmar is a long and dangerous one. Many can't make it. Those who try and cross over to countries like Malaysia, Japan and Thailand by boat often sink or get caught and are thrown into prison."
That's why I decided to escape with my family to India.
I had heard that the people of India were welcoming to people like us.
I knew there were other Rohingya Muslims who were living here, as some of my relatives managed to find a home here when they escaped Myanmar.
I thought my family would be safe as well if we came here.
So I left home with my wife and nine-month-old daughter under the cover of darkness.
Our first stop was Chittagong in Bangladesh. Some locals there helped us cross the border into India and we arrived in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.
But just then, things went very wrong for us.
The authorities took away my wife and daughter. I somehow managed to escape. I don't know where they are anymore. My mother and sister too are still stuck in Myanmar.
I just don't know what to do to trace my family and bring everyone to a place of safety."
US urges Myanmar to treat Rohingya as citizens
Recognition of ethnic minority would help solve root cause of the migrant crisis in Southeast Asia, US officials say.
The United States has called on Myanmar's government to treat minority Rohingya Muslims as citizens to solve the root cause of the migrant crisis in Southeast Asia.
On Wednesday, US Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard also urged all of Myanmar's leaders to speak up on human rights issues.
Richard's comments reflect those of US President Barack Obama, who said the Rohingya - who have lived in Myanmar for generations - are "as much citizens of Burma as anyone else", referring to the country by its former name.
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Opposition leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced international criticism for failing to speak out on behalf of the nation's many ethnic groups, including the Rohingya.
"We would love to see all Burmese leaders speak up on human rights and to realise that they should help the Rohingya," she said. "The boats are not going to wait until December - the people on the boats need help right now."
Richard said that, on a previous visit to Rakhine state, she found "one of the most oppressive atmospheres I've ever travelled in".
Her comments came as Myanmar's navy escorted a boat crammed with 727 abandoned migrants to the town of Maung-daw in western Rakhine state. Navy commanders have said that they will not take any further action until all the migrants are identified.
Myanmar landed the boat on Wednesday after keeping the vessel at sea for days, Reuters news agency reported.
Al Jazeera's Florence Looi, reporting from Yangon, said that Maung-daw is located very close to the Bangladesh border.
"The Rakhine state spokesperson said that these people will be given food, water and whatever else they need," Looi reported.
"There's a whole lack of transparency surrounding how this matter has been handled, and it also seems to suggest an eagerness by the Myanmar government to portray these people - at least the ones found in Myanmar territory - as being economic migrants from Bangladesh," she added.
Thousands rescued
Many of the more than 4,000 migrants who have landed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Myanmar over the past two months are members of the Rohingya ethnic minority who say they are escaping persecution in Myanmar.
Myanmar does not recognise its 1.1 million-strong Rohingya minority as citizens, rendering them effectively stateless. Many have fled the apartheid-like conditions of the country's Rakhine state. Myanmar denies it discriminates against them.
Images of desperate people crammed aboard overloaded boats with little food or water has focused international attention on the region's latest migrant crisis, which blew up last month after a Thai crackdown made it too risky for people smugglers to land their human cargo, who were instead abandoned at sea.
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