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n regard to the clash between Muslim and Buddhist refugees from Myanmar at the Belawan Immigration Detention Center in North Sumatra, the immigration detention house in Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands, which is also keeping Myanmar refugees in custody, preemptive measures are being taken to prevent the clash between the asylum seekers from recurring.

Tanjungpinang detention house warden Surya Pranata told The Jakarta Post on Monday that 82 Myanmar refugees, consisting of 59 Rohingya Muslims and 23 Buddhists, are currently held at the detention house.

According to Surya, his office has warned the refugees not to commit acts that are against the law.

“I warned them that if they violate the law, such as by killing someone, it would end their chances of being sent to another country. They would violate human rights and become an enemy of everyone,” said Surya.

According to Surya, both warring groups have been placed in separate blocks to prevent direct interaction. The Myanmar citizens are mainly Buddhist and were involved in illegal fishing, but later became asylum seekers.

“From the beginning, I refused to detain female Myanmar refugees here because we are not equipped with a special block for women,” Surya explained. “We can accommodate them in a separate facility at the Tanjungpinang immigration detention cell, at a different location.”

Previously, two groups of illegal Myanmar immigrants of different faiths were involved in a brawl that led to the deaths of eight Buddhist fishermen at an immigration detention center in Belawan, North Sumatra, over the alleged sexual harassment of a female Muslim refugee.

The clash also injured 21 Muslim refugees of the Rohingya ethnic group. The North Sumatra Police have named 18 Rohingya refugees as suspects for the fight.

Separately, in Aceh, 76 ethnic Myanmar Rohingya refugees were found stranded on Aceh Island, north of Banda Aceh, on Sunday.

They were found drifting at sea after their food and fuel stocks were exhausted. Of the 76 Rohingya refugees, five of them are children and five are women.

“Today, we moved them to a facility at the Krueng Raya Employment Training Center to wait for verification process by the International Organization for Migration and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,” said Aceh Besar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Djadjuli on Monday.

The Rohingyas, who are not recognized as a minority group by the Myanmar government, have become the target of attacks launched by the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group.

There has been no solution found by the Myanmar government, forcing the Rohingyas to flee to seek asylum in other countries.