Vice President Opens The Possibility Of Rohingya Refugees Entering Indonesia Accommodated On Galang Island Batam

JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin opened the option to accommodate Rohingya refugees on Galang Island, Batam City, Riau Province.

"Where do you place it? We used to have Galang Island, what will we talk about later," said Ma'ruf Amin after attending the 2024 Indonesia Sharia Economic Outlook (ISEO) launch and the Inauguration of the 3rd Indonesian Industrial Government University (I-GOV) in 2023 at the University of Indonesia, Depok, West Java, Tuesday, December 5, was confiscated by Antara.

He said the arrival of Rohingya refugees who are now receiving rejection from the people in Aceh, Riau, and Medan is a humanitarian issue that must be overcome together between stakeholders.

The Indonesian government also has an agenda for discussing this solution with the UN High Commissioner for Refugee Affairs (UNHCR) who has a responsibility for the evacuation problem.

A number of options related to the problem response step in Indonesia, said Ma'ruf, are being discussed intensively in a meeting chaired by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menkopolhukam), Mahfud MD.

"So far, it is impossible for us to refuse, but also of course we anticipate that there should be no rejection from the community, also how to anticipate that all of them should not continue to run to Indonesia. That is a burden," he said.

Ma'ruf, who recently returned to Indonesia from a working visit to Greece last week, said the presence of Rohingya refugees was also a similar problem in a number of countries.

"Actually, not only here, yesterday when we visited Greece. Greece also faced a similar situation, to Europe it entered Greece as well. They seemed like we were facing difficulties, but after all this is a humanitarian issue that must be overcome," he said.

In his statement, UNHCR calculated that there were 3,705 Rohingya people who traveled the sea throughout 2022, which is the largest number since 2015.

The Indonesian Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs reported that 1,487 ethnic minority refugees from Myanmar had gathered in Indonesia as of Monday, December 4.