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International refugees in Indonesia explained
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Refugees tend to a baby on a sidewalk in Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta, on July 5. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he issue of foreign refugees returned to the spotlight when dozens of refugees camped for weeks in late June in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta to demand progress in their asylum applications.
On July 10, the Jakarta administration finally allowed them to take shelter in one of its buildings in Kalideres, West Jakarta.
Yet, even after being moved to the temporary shelter away from the city center, they face another problem as some local residents made it clear that they rejected their new neighbors through banners put up around the neighborhood near the shelter.
The banners read “Residents of Daan Mogot Baru reject the immigrant shelter in our neighborhood” -- displaying an apparent misunderstanding among local people regarding the status of the refugees.
Who are they actually?
Gadjah Mada University’s international relations lecturer Atin Prabandari said the local community was wrong to refer the refugees as “immigrants”.
“Refugees need special treatment as they have experienced persecution in their home countries and they are fleeing because of dangers and therefore they need to be helped,” she said.
