Irrawaddy News
April 23, 2013
Persecution of the
Rohingya ethnic group in Burma is expected to be raised by Indonesian President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during his visit to the country on Wednesday.
“Indonesia hopes
the Myanmar [Burma] government will handle the Rohingya issue wisely and
fairly,” Yudhoyono said at a Jakarta airport on Monday ahead of his departure
to Singapore. “We want to continue helping to reach a positive outcome.”
Aleksius Jemadu,
the dean of Pelita Harapan University’s School of Social and Political
Sciences, said Yudhoyono’s leadership on the issue was essential.
“Indonesia has been
seen as a leader at the regional level and leaders need to take action to solve
problems,” he told the Jakarta Globe.
Indonesian Foreign
Minister Marty Natalegawa has also vowed to raise the topic when he meets his
Burmese counterpart at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in
Brunei later this week.
“We urge the
Myanmar government to quickly resolve this problem and prevent further
conflicts from erupting, so that all the people of Myanmar can live in an
atmosphere of peace,” he said.
He cited a case
earlier this month in which a mob of Rohingya migrants, incensed at the ongoing
violence in their home country, attacked and killed eight Buddhists from Burma
at an immigration detention center in North Sumatra, citing it as a case of the
problem spilling over beyond Burma’s borders.
Ali Akbar Tanjung,
an activist with the Human Rights Working Group, said the influx of Rohingya
refugees fleeing fighting in Burma, among other immigrants, had put a strain on
Indonesia’s immigration system and highlighted the dearth of legislation on how
to deal with refugees.
He argued that a
law specifically addressing this issue would improve and standardize the
handling of immigrants, and shift the sole burden of responsibility from the Justice
and Human Rights Ministry’s directorate general of immigration.
He also emphasized
the need for destination countries such as Australia and those in Western
Europe to take immigrants already granted refugee status but for whom the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had still not found a willing
host country.
“Our position as a
transit country doesn’t allow us to sit still and do nothing,” Ali said. “We’re
not a destination country. “That’s why we need to improve communications with
the countries that are.”
Yudhoyono is
scheduled to remain in Singapore for today, and then head to Burma on Wednesday
and Brunei on Thursday.
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