Some 240 Rohingya Muslims, including women and children, are afloat off the coast of Indonesia after two attempts to land were rejected by local residents.
Officials said the boat most recently tried to land in Aceh Utara district, in Indonesia’s Aceh province, on Thursday afternoon, but left a few hours later.
It is the fourth boat to reach Indonesia’s northernmost province since Tuesday. Three others arrived in a different district and were allowed to land.
“From a humanitarian perspective, we are concerned, but from another perspective, they are causing commotion. We provided shelter to them, but we also cannot accommodate them,†Saiful Afwadi, a traditional leader at Muara Batu sub-district said on Friday.
Rahmat Karpolo, a head of village, said that the residents do not want to accept the refugees because based on past experience, the Rohingya run away from the shelters.
“So we are worried that the same incident will happen again.†Karpolo said.
More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh after an army-led crackdown in August 2017. They say the camps are overcrowded and they must leave again in search of a better life.
Most of the refugees who left the camps by sea have attempted to reach Malaysia, but many have ended up in Indonesia along the way.
“Accommodation has been provided solely for humanitarian reasons. Ironically, many countries party to the convention actually closed their doors and even implemented a pushback policy toward the refugees,†Lalu Muhamad Iqbl, the Ministry’s spokesperson said in a statement.
“In fact, many of them were identified as victims of human trafficking,†Iqbal said.
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Associated Press
