The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Greg Constantine’s unflinching yet sensitive look at the Rohingyas’ plight has made an impact. (JG Photos/Tunggul Wirajuda) By  Tunggul Wirajuda The Jakarta Globe February 10, 2014 The elderly Rohingya man epitomized his people’s plight. One of more than 300,000 Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar, the former forced laborer fled his home state of Rakhine in the 1990s following years of oppression by the Myanmar authorities and the Rakhine ethnic group. The years of suffering and exile are etched in his face, while his shaded right eye symbolized his blindness in one eye after a beating by his Burmese overseers. Next to his photo, a snapshot of a Rohingya family contrasts with the photo of a woman fleeing persecution under it. The former aptly represents the families and lives shattered by the ethnic and sectarian conflict suffered by the Rohingya, while the latter’s blank, forward looking gaze seem to point towards an uncertain future. The photos are pa...

Ethnic Rohingya refugees from Myanmar wave as they are transported by a wooden boat to a temporary shelter in Krueng Raya in Aceh Besar in this April 8, 2013 file photo. (Reuters Photo/Junaidi Hanafiah) By Nurdin Hasan  JakartaGlobe July 28, 2013 Banda Aceh. Fishermen rescued a more than 60 Rohingya asylum seekers stranded in a boat off the coast of Aceh Jaya on Sunday — the third disabled Rohingya boat found floating in the Indian Ocean this year. The 68 Rohingya — including a pregnant woman and two babies — told Aceh officials they boarded the boat after being threatened with deportation in Malaysia. “The asylum seekers who could speak Malay said they departed from Malaysia four days ago and were heading to Australia to apply for asylum,” Rizal Dinata, the head of Aceh Jaya branch Indonesian Inter-Citizen Radio (RAPI), said. Shortly after leaving Malaysia, the asylum seekers’ compass and global positioning system (GPS) were damaged, Rizal reported. The ...

Rohingya refugees are seen in their room at the Training Center House, Krueng Raya, Aceh on April 10, 2013 . (EPA Photo/Hotli Simanjuntak) Jakarta Globe: April 14, 2013 As ethnic and religious conflict rages against the Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar, Indonesia has found itself taking on the role of both mediator and refuge country. Aleksius Jemadu, dean of Pelita Harapan University (UPH), said that this has now become a cross-border problem that includes Indonesia and must be addressed by Asean. Aleksius added that the conflict involving the Muslim-majority Rohingya ethnicity in Buddhist-majority Myanmar is a sensitive issue, but Asean must take the lead in solving it. According to the Asean Charter, an important pillar of the Asean community is its inclusiveness of all religions and ethnicities, he added. “If Indonesia wishes to become a leader in this instance, it must take the initiative,” he said on Saturday. Since the influx of asylum-seekers has affected Indones...

Aljazeera - Myanmar Rohingya refugees rescued in Thailand Jakarta Globe : February 03, 2013 Khao Lak .  The future of more than 1,500 recent Rohingya boat arrivals in Thailand is unclear, despite a government reprieve allowing them to stay for another six months. “Their long-term fate remains uncertain,” Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, an advocacy group for the Rohingya, told IRIN. “In the short-term, they should not be held in overcrowded IDCs [immigration detention centers] and police cells. Alternatives to detention have to be found such as open facilities under regulated conditions where they could at least move around.”