AFP
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 20:15
Mustafa Marghadi
Southeast Asia correspondent
Mustafa Marghadi
Southeast Asia correspondent
The fact that the engine of their wooden fishing boat broke down after a week on the open sea was not even the biggest problem. “The food and drink had already run out by then,” said Yasser Arafat, a Rohingya refugee named after the former Palestinian leader.
For forty days he and his 157 fellow refugees floated on the sea between Bangladesh and Indonesia. “When the wind blew, we lifted the sail to push us forward,” says Farouk. “And we prayed to God for rain. Then we took down the tarp to catch the water so we could have a drink.” “We were really terrified,” Yasser Arafat added.
26 of the Rohingya on board had already died of hunger or thirst when Yasser sighted the coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province. “We were overjoyed.” Especially when they saw that the locals immediately rushed to the boat to help the dehydrated and starving refugees. “They lifted us off the boat, gave us water and food. The Indonesians really helped us.”
Yasser and Farouk’s boat is one of four boats that have arrived in Aceh in the past month. Another boat with 187 Rohingya reached the coast of Aceh yesterday. There was another boat on the way earlier, but when the engine stalled, those 180 Rohingya refugees were less fortunate with the wind. After a month of floating at sea, the boat sank. This brought the counter to about 400 drowned Rohingya in 2022; the deadliest year in a decade.
They have no access to education, care or even work, so they are forced to make a perilous journey.
Rafik Shukri, UNHCR
In 2017, Rohingya, as a Muslim minority, were already expelled from their own country Myanmar. Now they are fleeing Cox Bazar in Bangladesh with the help of human smugglers. With a million people, it is the largest refugee camp on earth. The conditions are appalling. “It’s not safe. There’s a lot of violence. And we can’t work there,” says Farouk.
Rafik Syukri of the UN refugee agency UNHCR confirms the dramatic state of the refugees in Bangladesh. “They have no access to education, care or even work, so they are forced to make a perilous journey.” And more and more do. Where ‘only’ 400 Rohingya made the boat trip in 2021, there were no less than 2400 last year.
One in six doesn’t make it
And they take for granted that it is a perilous journey. One in six Rohingya do not make the long journey (1800 kilometers). And although the local population of Aceh neatly takes care of the survivors, Indonesia, like the neighboring countries, does not lend a hand to rescue boats in distress. Among other things, because of fear of the suction effect that this could have on the million other Rohingya in Cox Bazar.
“The surrounding countries must cooperate more when it comes to rescuing refugees at sea,” says Rafik Syukri. More importantly, the international community is pressuring Myanmar to end oppression of the Rohingya in their homeland. “Because then they don’t have to make that whole flight.”
The Rohingya themselves do not want to go to all surrounding countries. The Muslim community in India is under pressure, and Thailand is majority Buddhist and has conflicts with the Muslim rebels in the south. After years of persecution and oppression, Rohingya prefer to move to Indonesia or Malaysia. In the latter country there are many family ties between Rohingya.
AFP
Indonesians watch a Rohingya refugee boat in late December
Aceh, where the Rohingya usually arrive in Indonesia, is known for its extreme experience of Islam. It is the only province where Sharia law applies. Un-Islamic acts such as cheating and homosexuality carry severe corporal punishment, sometimes even death. But at the same time, they almost see it as a religious duty to help their fellow Muslims.
Rafik looks around the shelter in the village of Pidie. “Everything is separated here for men and women. There are even a men’s row and a women’s row at the soup kitchen. There is also a prayer room with a loudspeaker there. Of course, separate for men and women.”
It’s Friday, so the loudspeaker is ringing the call for the most important prayer of the week. Farouk and Yasser Arafat ritually wash themselves and walk to the prayer room. Although the Rohingya are not as strict as the Sharia dictates in Aceh, they are happy to be in a Muslim country. “I feel God here. And I just want to be with God and feel him,” says Farouk.
The two do not yet know whether they will stay in Indonesia or travel on to Malaysia or even America. They don’t want to think about that, so close to prayer. And after about twenty minutes it ends as it always does. By looking at the neighbor on his knees and saying: “Peace be upon you, with God’s grace and blessings.”
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