REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LHOKSEUMAWE -- As many as 19 of 238 Bangladeshi immigrants, who were stranded among the displaced Rohingyas in North Aceh, Aceh Province, will be deported to their country by the local authority on June 11.
Head of Immigration Office of Lhokseumawe Akmal said here on Sunday the 19 Bangladesh nationals are to be deported by a commercial flight.
"They will depart from Lhokseumawe to Medan, North Sumatra. In Medan, the airplane will head to Malaysia before continuing its flight to Dhaka, Bangladesh," Akmal said.
Akmal said the office has received the documents of the 19 foreigners from the Bangladeshi Embassy in Indonesia that the deportation can proceed.
Meanwhile, the Embassy is still gathering data for the undocumented Bangladeshi nationals to make sure their identities.
The Immigration Office can only deport the immigrant if an official travel document is issued by the Embassy, Akmal said.
The office will only escort the immigrants to the airport, whereas the flight plan is managed by the Bangladeshi Government.
A total of 824 refugees belonging to Rohingya and Bangladeshi communities were recently rescued by the Acehnese fishermen from Tamiang and Langsa waters of Aceh Province. Forty-seven of them are being accommodated in Sungai Kurok Tiga Village, Seruway Sub-district, Aceh Tamiang District.
Currently, Aceh province is accommodating at least 1,722 refugees, comprising 1,239 males, 244 females and 238 children.
They have been given shelter in four refugee camps. While 560 of them are in North Aceh district, 47 are in Aceh Tamiang, 682 in Langsa city, and 433 in East Aceh district.
Indonesia is continuing its search for Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees who may still be adrift in the country's waters, even after having saved several others so far.
Director of International Security and Disarmament of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andy Rachmianto said that with international support, Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to accept some 7,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees believed to be still in the sea.
Refugees found through the search and rescue operations carried out by the navy will be taken to a temporary shelter in Sumatra's district of North Aceh.
According to Rachmianto, the Indonesian government will provide temporary shelter for the refugees already in North Aceh, East Aceh, and Medan, North Sumatra.
Moreover, the government has involved two chief international agencies, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with regard to the development of the shelters.
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