REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Chairman of the House of Representatives' (DPR's) Commission I Mahfudz Siddik has urged the Indonesian government to cooperate with NGOs and international agencies to address the issue of Rohingya asylum seekers being stranded in Indonesian territories.

"Although Indonesia has not signed the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, it does not mean that the government can abandon refugees whose lives could perish at sea," the lawmaker informed the press, Monday (18/5).

For the sake of humanity, the government must be able to find solutions to help them, he emphasized.

The NGOs can help raise humanitarian aid for the asylum seekers, similar to what is now happening in Aceh.

He outlined three options for the government to deal with the Rohingya problem.

Firstly, the government could provide logistics such as food and drinking water to the refugees on board the boats, so that they can proceed to their destination country, he explained.

The government could provide temporary shelters to those who have landed in Indonesian territories such as hundreds of Rohingyas who were stranded in Aceh, he remarked.

Second, the government can coordinate with the UNHCR to help the asylum seekers reach their destination countries.

Thirdly, Indonesia along with Malaysia and Thailand should jointly lay pressure on Myanmar to deal with the political discrimination against Rohingyas as the issue has affected the region.

Siddik also noted that Indonesian high-ranking officials should not issue statements contrary to humanitarian principles.

On May 15, 2015, some 648 Rohingya asylum seekers were found stranded in Malacca Strait some 20 miles from Pusong Beach, East Aceh district, Aceh Darussalam province, and were finally rescued by local fishermen.

In Aceh Darussalam's neighboring province of North Sumatra, 96 Rohingyas, including 83 men, eight women, and five children, were also rescued by the local fishermen after being stranded in the waters of Pangkalan Susu sub-district, Langkat district, on the same day (May 15).

Earlier, on May 10, as many as 587 refugees, including women and children, from Myanmar had also been found stranded in the waters of North Aceh district. They were then given shelter in Kuala Cangkoi village, Lapang sub-district, some 300 kilometers from the Aceh provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika