By AFP
At least 75 Rohingya refugees arrived by boat at a tourist beach in western Indonesia on Wednesday, but were stopped by authorities from disembarking, local officials said.
The mostly Muslim Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar – their predominantly Buddhist homeland – and thousands risk their lives each year on long and dangerous sea journeys to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
The latest group of refugees, including four children, arrived on a beach in Aceh province yesterday at 2:00pm, according to Rizalihadi, a local administrative official who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
“There are 75 Rohingya Muslims who landed on the Leuge Beach. Four of them are toddlers,” Rizalihadi told reporters.
Security officers prevented the refugees from disembarking and ordered them to stay aboard the boat, according to an Agence France-Presse reporter at the scene.
“For now, they are not allowed to disembark, considering today is a public holiday. Many (tourist) activities are taking place … There are concerns that they might blend in with the crowd and escape,” Rizalihadi said.
“The temporary policy is for them to remain on the boat while waiting for representatives from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration to arrive.”
Military and police officers were deployed to monitor the beach, while local residents took photos of the boat and provided the refugees with food.
Rohingya arrivals in Indonesia tend to follow a cyclical pattern, slowing during the stormy rainy seasons and picking back up when sea conditions calm down.
More than 260 Rohingya refugees arrived on a beach in Aceh earlier this month.
And more than 100 refugees were rescued after their boat sank off the coast of East Aceh in November last year.
In October, 152 Rohingya refugees were brought ashore after being anchored for days off the coast of South Aceh district while officials decided whether to let them land.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the United Nations refugee convention and says it cannot be compelled to take in refugees from Myanmar, calling instead on neighbouring countries to share the burden and resettle the Rohingya who arrive on its shores.
Many Acehnese, who themselves have memories of decades of bloody conflict, are sympathetic to the plight of their fellow Muslims.
But others say their patience has been tested, claiming the Rohingya consume scarce resources and occasionally come into conflict with locals.
