Rohingya refugees stretch out their hands to receive food aid near Balukhali in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Sept. 4, 2017.
DHAKA, KOMPAS – Amid global condemnation regarding the Rohingya crisis, Indonesia is actively engaging in humanitarian diplomacy. The Indonesian government will lobby heads of state through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the United Nations to seek efforts to resolve the crisis.
Indonesia’s maximum effort and attention has become evident in a series of meetings between Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi and high-ranking officials in Myanmar and Bangladesh as well as representatives of several international organizations. After meeting with Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar Armed Forces Commander Senior General U Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday (5/9/2017), Retno flew to Dhaka in Bangladesh.
There, she met with her Bangladeshi counterpart,Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, and with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In Dhaka, Retnoalso met the representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangladesh, Tayba Sharif, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) project manager in Bangladesh, Peppi K Siddiq.
Kompas journalist B Josie Susilo Hardianto reported from Dhaka that, after the meeting with PM Hasina, Retno reiterated Indonesia’s stance that the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine must be resolved and said Indonesia was ready to take some of the burden off Bangladesh.
The Bangladeshi government, Retno said, responded positively to Indonesia’s offer. Currently, there is a continuously high influx of refugees from northern Rakhine to Bangladesh. As of Tuesday, the UN recorded that 123,600 Rohingya people had crossed the border to Bangladesh. The number is expected to rise, putting more pressure on the Bangladeshi government,which has taken in more than 400,000 Rohingya people so far.
“We will discuss what kind of assistance Indonesia can provide to reduce the burden the Bangladeshi government is bearing,” Retno said. “This humanitarian crisis must be resolved. I wish to make that clear, this humanitarian crisis must be resolved.”
Retno said the Indonesian government had gained support from a number of countries in its effort to resolve the Rakhine crisis. The support comes from the Netherlands, Iran, the UK and ASEAN member states through each of their foreign ministers.
Appreciation for Indonesia’s move was also expressed by UNHCR representatives in Bangladesh. They said Minister Retno was the first high-ranking foreign official to visit Bangladesh in response to the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine. “We are conducting a marathon of diplomatic efforts to ensure that this humanitarian mission is implemented, as this is the mandate of the Indonesian people,” Retno said.
In her visit to Myanmar on Monday, Retno was the first high-ranking state official from abroad to be received by Myanmar’s government. The diplomatic effort was aimed at reducing the escalating violence in Rakhine and ensuring optimal humanitarian aid for refugees in Bangladesh and Rakhine.
A UN report states that refugees that recently arrived in Bangladesh are living under alarming conditions. Many of them are forced to sleep in the open and urgently require food and clean water after completinga journey of several days from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
The Bangladeshi authorities had at first attempted to stop the refugees at the border and turn them back to Myanmar. However, the huge influx of refugees overwhelmed the authorities. Sheikh Hasina said that the hundreds of thousands of refugees created a huge burden for her country.
The European Union has urged Myanmar to open its doors for humanitarian aid to enter the country and reach the Rohingya people, who have been persecuted and many of whom have fled to Bangladesh. EU commissioner Christos Stylianides said the EU was ready to help tackle the refugee problem in Bangladesh.
Lobbying other countries
The Indonesian government was also lobbying other heads of state through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the United Nations general assembly to help resolve the Rakhine conflict, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said at the Vice Presidential Office in Jakarta on Tuesday.
“The OIC summit in Kazakhstan is about science and technology rather than politics. However, I will meet with many country leaders there. We will talk about [the Rakhine crisis],” he said.
Kalla is scheduled to attend the first OIC summit on science and technology in Astana, Kazakhstan, on September 10-11. He said he would use the meeting to lobby other heads of state to help with resolving the Rakhine conflict.
Kalla would also bring up the Rakhine issue at his meeting with state leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York, the US, from September 19-24.
Avoiding politicization
Said Aqil Siroj, the chairman of the central board of Indonesia’s largest Muslim mass organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said the humanitarian tragedy in Rakhine must be stopped. However, he urged Indonesians to appreciate the government’s diplomatic efforts and wait for the results.
Said Aqil said this after meeting with President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Palace. In the one-hour meeting, Said Aqil said, the President said he expected the NU to support the government’s efforts in response to the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine.
In a press conference at the Muhammadiyah Religious Outreach Center in Jakarta, the Interfaith Youth Forum called on all Indonesians not to politicize the Rohingya issue for certain domestic political interests that harmed the nation’s unity. The forum brings together Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.
Muhammadiyah Youth chairman Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak said that youths of all religions supported the Indonesian government’s swift diplomatic action and urged communities to make immediate efforts to send humanitarian aid.
In Makassar, the South Sulawesi Interreligious Harmony Forum also expressed its appreciation and support of the government’s diplomacy on the Rakhine crisis.
“There is a maximum [effort], and we will continue to support it,” forum chairman A Rahim Yunus said after a meeting with stakeholders.
