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Rohingya refugees in Indonesia face constant hurdles in resettling
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Newly arrived: Rohingya refugees look on in the compounds of a mosque following their arrival by boat in Bireuen, Special Region of Aceh, on March 6. (AFP/Amanda Jufrian) (AFP/Amanda Jufrian)
M
any refugees still come to Indonesia with hopes of a better life, but they often receive no support during the resettlement process.
Rohingya refugees in Makassar face the despair of not knowing what the future holds for them after finally setting foot in Indonesia.
Shofiqul, 22, currently a university student at Christian University of Indonesia, has been residing in Makassar for nine years. According to him, there are at least ten other, newer, Rohingya refugees that he knows of in Makassar. For the last three years, these newer refugees have not been able to access jobs or even housing.
“I can relate to [their plight] because I also wasn’t able to speak Indonesian, back then,” Shofiqul reminisced about his first days in the country. He considered himself fortunate. Years back, when Shofiqul arrived in 2013, he received support from International Organization for Migration (IOM), a local non-governmental organization (NGO).
“My house was burned to the ground, and my father was killed by the military; that is why we were looking for a better life in Indonesia,” Bebe Warisah, 27, another Rohingya refugee in the city, shared. The life she had hoped for after moving to Indonesia has never been realized.
With no house, Bebe and other refugees who currently live in the streets are relying on support from the locals. They also use the toilet at a nearby local school for their daily sanitary needs. Bebe's mother, 73, currently suffers from a heart disease but is unable to access medical support because they have no accessibility rights to health and economic facilities in Indonesia.
Surviving: Evacuated Rohingya people from Myanmar sit on the shorelines of Lancok village, in Indonesia's North Aceh regency, Special Region of Aceh, on June 25, 2020. Nearly 100 Rohingya from Myanmar, including 30 children, have been rescued from a rickety wooden boat off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, a maritime official said. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin) (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin)
