Indonesia relents, allowing stranded Rohingya boat ashore

A group of about 120 Rohingya Muslims were told on Wednesday that they would be allowed to seek refuge in Indonesia after they were  initially denied entry.

A day earlier, on Tuesday, authorities had said they would provide food, medicine, and water to the refugees on board the vessel — at sea — but that they would be denied entry to Indonesia.

The case had attracted domestic and international attention. 

"The Indonesian government decided, in the name of humanity, to give refuge to Rohingya refugees currently afloat on a boat near Biereun district, Aceh," said Armed Wijaya, an official at Indonesia's Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry. "Its passengers were mostly women and children."

Rohingya refugees adrift for days

Fishers were the first to spot the boat on Sunday.

They said the people aboard looked "weak but fine."

The fishers were unable to tow the boat but provided the people with food, water and clothes.

The refugees told them that they had been at sea for 28 days and that one person had already died.

Officials said they would push the boat back to international waters.

Public sympathy for Rohingya, however, rose after videos taken by the fishers on their phones spread on social media.

"It's a credit to the fishermen community in Aceh who pushed hard and took risks so that these children, women and men could be brought to shore," Amnesty International Indonesia said in a statement.

Jakarta is under intense pressure to accept refugees

Amnesty, the UNHCR and the Civil Society Coalition, a coalition of nine Indonesian rights groups, urged the government in Jakarta to accept the refugees.

"The Rohingya ethnic group is a vulnerable, stateless group of people that should be given protection,'' the Civil Society Coalition said in a statement.

The UNHCR said it was ready to assist the government and local community in preparing for the Rohingya.

More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar to escape a military crackdown against the ethnic minority group since roughly 2017, with the military persecution of the religious minority long predating the coup early this year in Myanmar.

Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention and is predominately seen as a transit country for people seeking asylum in third countries.

Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have for years sailed to countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia between November and April, when the seas in the region tend to be calmer.

lo/msh (AFP, AP, Reuters)