Even though refugees have disappeared from the sidewalk of one of Jakarta’s main roads, the problem remains, with the Jakarta administration calling for medium and long term solutions for the more than 1,000 refugees it currently houses.

Since late June, dozens of refugees camped for weeks in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta, to demand progress in their applications to be resettled in a third country. On July 10, the Jakarta administration finally allowed them to take shelter in one of its buildings in Kalideres, West Jakarta.

Jakarta Social Agency head Irmansyah said that, as of Friday, the Kalideres building housed as many as 1,429 refugees from 12 countries, with 1,100 of them from Afghanistan.

He said his office had also established a public kitchen near the West Jakarta mayor’s office, while other local agencies provided services, with water operators PDAM and Palyja providing running water, the Environment Agency providing sanitation and the Public Facility Maintenance Agency (PPSU) helping to clean the building.

“We’re doing whatever possible. It’s been 10 days now, and while we are not going to stop anytime soon, we’re hoping that we can get additional support from philanthropists for food, water and diapers,” Irmansyah told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He estimated his agency had disbursed at least Rp 50 million (US$3,591) per day to feed the refugees at the temporary shelter.

“This is way beyond what is provisioned under the 2016 decree because we not only coordinate with the UNHCR but also provide the necessary supplies, especially food,” he said.

As a nonparty to the 1951 Refugee Convention, Indonesia is not obligated to receive or take care of refugees. However, Indonesia has been lauded for issuing the 2016 presidential decree that provides legal certainty and standards for government agencies to coordinate and collaborate on the handling of refugees.

Article 26 of the decree stipulates that basic necessities such as clean water, food, clothing, healthcare and hygiene, and religious facilities should be sought from international organizations, in this case the UNHCR, Irmansyah said.

According to Irmansyah, medium and long term plans for refugees have been discussed several times with the central government and relevant stakeholders, but no solid plan has emerged.

“The problem is this is not a one or two day affair. […] Everyone has to be involved so that the Jakarta administration will not be the only one carrying the burden,” he said, adding that the central government could start by allocating a special fund for refugees as the Jakarta Social Agency had no such specific fund.

The situation was made worse when some locals in a middle-to-upper income neighborhood recently put up banners voicing their opposition to the refugees.

UNHCR country director Thomas Vargas previously lamented that some traditional partner countries had reduced the number of refugees they were resettling in their countries.

As of May this year, Indonesia hosted 13,997 refugees from 43 countries, mostly from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Myanmar. The figure, provided by the UNHCR, is significantly lower than other countries’ in the region, such as Malaysia and Thailand, which have had to take in more than 140,000 and 90,000 refugees respectively, although they are not signatories to the refugee convention.

The Foreign Ministry’s acting spokesperson, Teuku Faizasyah, said Indonesia had reminded countries that are parties to the refugee convention about their responsibilities.

“We have reminded [destination countries] that as signatories to the convention, they have the responsibility to fulfill their commitments, including to admit refugees who are now in transit countries, which are not parties to the convention,” he said.

A spokesperson from the Australian Embassy said its government had increased the size of its humanitarian settlement program by 5,000 placements, from the previous level of 13,750 refugees up to the current level of 18,750 refugees each year.

“Even with this increase, every year, many more people apply to be resettled under this program than Australia can accept. The program continues to include a modest intake from Indonesia,” the spokesperson said.

He said while Australia remained committed to the orderly resettlement of refugees from overseas, “the illegal maritime pathway to Australia is closed, and it will stay closed. No one who attempts illegal boat travel to Australia will be allowed to enter or remain in Australia.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the United States Embassy in Jakarta said the US expected to resettle up to 30,000 refugees, as well as process more than 280,000 asylum seekers this year.

Anthropology lecturer Antje Missbach of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, said it might be a perfect time for Indonesia to lead by example by giving refugees some sort of a limited, temporary work permit to let them legally earn money.

She argued that the right to asylum was guaranteed in the 1945 Constitution and was also mentioned in the 1999 law on international relations and 1999 law on human rights.

“So it does not come from nowhere, it is just that this thought was maybe forgotten in the last 20 years and because there wasn’t such an urgent pressing issue,” she said, adding that back then the number of refugees coming to Indonesia was relatively small and they were often going to Australia rather quickly.

“It’s only now that when the onward movement is blocked [by Australia] that maybe it’s time to rethink that we had this idea for asylum [of acknowledging their rights], what do we actually want to do about it,” she said.

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