LHOKSEUMAWE: Human traffickers left dozens of Rohingya refugees, including children, stranded on a shoreline in westernmost Indonesia on Thursday, while six dead bodies were found nearby, local officials said.
Members of the persecuted minority risk their lives each year on long and dangerous sea journeys, often crowding into rickety boats in the hopes of reaching Malaysia or Indonesia.
The refugees were abandoned before dawn on Thursday around 100 meters off a beach in Aceh Province, Saiful Anwar, a village official in East Aceh, told AFP.
The group included 46 women, 37 men and seven children, he said, while locals found two bodies on the shore and four floating in the sea.
“According to information from residents, these people were stranded at around 4 am (2100 GMT). It seems like there was a boat that brought them,” Saiful said.
Eight sick refugees were taken for medical treatment, he said.
East Aceh acting district head Amrullah M. Ridha told reporters the refugees would be kept in tents on the beach until authorities sheltered them.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said it knew about the arrivals but could offer no further information.
Acting Aceh Governor Safrizal, who goes by one name, told reporters “human trafficking mafia activity” was to blame for the latest arrivals.
It is the third group of arrivals in western Indonesia this month, with more than 150 refugees landing in Aceh and another 140 arriving in North Sumatra province.
According to UNHCR, 2,500 Rohingya arrived by boat in Aceh between January 2023 and March 2024, as many as had arrived in Indonesia in the previous eight years.
The mostly Muslim ethnic group faces persecution in Myanmar, and many have fled military crackdowns, seeking shelter in sprawling refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh.
Every year, thousands of Rohingya attempt the perilous 4,000-kilometer journey (2,500 miles) from Bangladesh to Malaysia, fueling a multi-million dollar human-smuggling operation that often involves stopovers in Indonesia.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and says it cannot be compelled to take in the refugees, calling instead on neighboring countries to share the burden.
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 by the annual arrivals.
90 Rohingya left ‘stranded’ on Indonesia beach
https://arab.news/nvb2z
90 Rohingya left ‘stranded’ on Indonesia beach
- Members of the persecuted minority risk their lives each year on long and dangerous sea journeys, often crowding into rickety boats in the hopes of reaching Malaysia or Indonesia
Indonesia’s new state mosque to hold first Eid prayers this year
- Mosque is located in Nusantara Capital City on Borneo island, a $32bn project set for 2045 completion
- Famous sculptor Nyoman Nuarta designed mosque, other government structures in new capital
JAKARTA: The state mosque in Indonesia’s planned new capital city, Nusantara, will hold its inaugural Eid Al-Fitr prayer this year, as the $62 million facility opens for its first run of Ramadan programs.
The Indonesian government has plans to relocate the capital to Borneo island to replace the overcrowded and sinking Jakarta on Java island, with the $32 billion megaproject scheduled for completion in 2045.
With a capacity of about 60,000 people, the mosque in East Kalimantan opened to the public last month, at the beginning of Ramadan.
“This mosque symbolizes that we are building the Nusantara Capital City with careful attention to spiritual, social and environmental aspects,” Troy Pantouw, spokesperson for the Nusantara Capital City Authority — the agency overseeing the new capital city — told Arab News on Saturday.
“We will hold Eid Al-Fitr prayers here and we are hoping that it would mark a historic momentum of unity here at Nusantara Capital City.”
Locally known as Masjid Negara, construction of the state mosque began in 2024. Its design was spearheaded by Balinese sculptor Nyoman Nuarta at the request of former President Joko Widodo.
Nuarta is one of Indonesia’s most famous visual artists and creator of the country’s tallest statue, Garuda Wisnu Kencana, located in Bali.
The 72-year-old is also the designer behind other main structures in Nusantara, including the new state palace.
This Ramadan marked many firsts for Masjid Negara, including its first taraweeh on Feb. 18, which was attended by thousands of worshippers in East Kalimantan.
In the same complex where the state mosque is located, the government has plans to build Christian churches, and Buddhist, Hindu and Confucian temples.
Indonesia, home to the world’s largest population of Muslims, officially recognizes Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism as religions.
“A church is now being built in the complex, and in the future there will also be houses of worship belonging to other religions. This reflects Nusantara’s values of harmony and respect,” Pantouw said.
“From the start, this area was designed to represent inter-religious harmony. We want the Nusantara Capital City to stand as a concrete example of how physical developments can be parallel to efforts to build tolerance in society.”
