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Introspection on persecuted minorities needed before RI solves Rohingya crisis: Expert
Indonesia must first do introspection on its own minority persecution problems before it deals with the growing Rohingya refugee crisis in Southeast Asia, an expert says
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ndonesia must first do introspection on its own minority persecution problems before it deals with the growing Rohingya refugee crisis in Southeast Asia, an expert says.
Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) researcher Philips J. Vermonte said the Rohingya refugees were fleeing their home country, Myanmar, to escape intense persecution by the state and other social groups in the country.
To help solve the crisis, he said Indonesia must first look at measures it had taken to solve internal conflicts involving religious communities, such as the Ahmadiyah and Shia Muslims, which had led to the persecution of the minority groups resulting from the government's reluctance to solve the root causes of the conflicts.
'[Indonesia's] inactions against the Ahmadiyah or Shia Muslim persecutions, for example, are exactly what the Rohingya are experiencing in Myanmar and this is what has led them to flee the country. Before condemning the persecution of minorities in other countries, Indonesia must do introspection on its actions first,' he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
The senior analyst admitted that Indonesia should help the Rohingya refugees in the name of humanity and Asian solidarity. However, Indonesia must also handle the refugee crisis carefully to prevent possible larger influxes of refugees into the country.
Earlier, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the number of refugees stranded in Aceh over the past week and a half had reached 1,722. (ebf)(+++)
