Dear Mr. President,
I would like to express my humble gratitude to you for your kind consideration in letting us stay in Indonesia. Indonesia is the first country where we, refugees, ever had a chance to taste peace after fleeing genocide, wars and conflicts in our respective countries.
On behalf of my people, Rohingya, I would like to thank the kind fishermen and compassionate citizens of Aceh. They made their mark in history by rescuing hundreds of Rohingya from the sea when we were abandoned by other countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Australia.
We have appreciated Indonesian people’s kindness towards us on special occasions such as EID festival days when we were invited by local people to visit their homes. Our debt to you and your beautiful citizens grows with each passing moment.
In the years when we patiently waited for a durable solution to our situation, we tried to occupy our time as productively as possible. We helped our Indonesian friends and community. Personally, I have committed myself to teach English to local people and have shared my knowledge and skills with my community.
I am proud to say that I have made many friends in Indonesia and have a good command of Bahasa Indonesia; I am delighted to say that many of my fellow refugees speak it even better than me.
Because we have experienced your sympathy, I am emboldened with great respect to draw your kind attention to our most vulnerable situation in Indonesia.
Mr. President, I want you to imagine a group of people living under conditions where they are systematically subjected to genocide.
From the very beginning of their history in Myanmar, the Rohingya have been persecuted in their everyday lives, severely restricted in their work opportunities, and forbidden to travel freely. They have been denied basic human rights, which include, most importantly, the right to citizenship in one’s own country. On top of all these discrimination, we are frequently hounded by military troops and Rakhine extremist groups.
We live in fear of death every single day and night. Whenever a Rohingya is found outdoors at night, he or she is either killed or ‘disappeared’.
However severe these pains and sufferings, we the Rohingya people have endured them. It is only when the violence escalated so dramatically that we fled to save our lives.
We were stripped of our citizenship from Myanmar in 1982 which meant we could not apply for a passport; we fled on small wooden-boats, putting our lives at risk. We slept in the jungle for days and when discovered, we were beaten by authorities, locked up in small rooms for months and starved by soldiers and government agents from Myanmar.
Tragically, whenever we thought we had reached safety we were either pushed back to sea or shot at; if we were allowed to stay, we were un-welcomed and treated as criminals.
Our fate seems to be either locked up in detention or kept under strict security, but never at peace. It is neither life nor death, only survival.
To give you a more eloquent picture of us Rohingya people, I ask you to imagine a fish in a glass of water, where it is trapped and can neither move properly nor eat fully, but barely survive, for a while.
As you can see from our history, we have spent much of our lives in misery and yet, we are still living in nearly the same misery.
In Indonesia, we are no longer in physical danger. However, we have no basic rights and face severe restrictions on our day to day life.
We cannot live normal lives and rebuild our communities as we have no work rights; no rights to travel; no right to formal education; no right to marry outside our own community. We face curfews from 10 pm to 6 am; punishment if delayed or failing to return to designated accommodation.
Mr. President, our very basic human rights do not exist in Indonesia.
Some of us, we have already been waiting for a decade for resettlement to a third country, but have been informed by UNHCR that it may take up to 25 years, or forever, which means never.
Having lived in this uncertainty in our future, eight refugees – that we know of – have taken their own lives and many others, unrecorded, are facing an untimely death due to lack of medication. Nearly 90 percent of us are suffering from mental disorders.
We have finally come to the conclusion that we, refugees, have been left without any solution for our future. We cannot rely on International NGOs. Therefore, we must turn our hope towards the government of Indonesia.
I highly appreciate your decision to recognize our refugee status, but our human rights and need to integrate into local communities are still left unaddressed.
I understand that Indonesia is still a developing country and faces many domestic problems. But there are almost no places available for permanent settlement to a third country.
Australia has paused all refugee intakes from Indonesia. European countries are reluctant to take refugees from Indonesia as they are helping the displaced people from the Middle East and African countries, and no-one can predict what the next US administration’s policy response to refugees will be.
I understand that Indonesia has not signed the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, but I believe it is not necessary to sign to show humanitarian spirit and serve humanity.
Indonesia has already committed itself as a humanitarian country according to the second principle of Pancasila “Just and civilized humanity.”
Indonesia’s culture reflects the edicts of Prophet Mohammad. According to Islamic law and tradition, Muslims and non-Muslims alike who are in danger and are seeking protection, have the right to approach an Islamic community for Protection and are not required to prove that they have been persecuted.
Based on this tradition, refugees should be granted asylum upon their request and they should be given the same rights as all nationals, including rights to work, education, free movement and family reunification.
According to the 1945 Constitution, the Indonesian government promised to ‘participate toward the establishment of a world order based on freedom, perpetual peace and social justice. Indonesia is also the core member of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which stands on human rights before the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights. Principle 16 emphasized that “every person has the right to seek and receive asylum in another state in accordance with the laws of such state and applicable international agreements”.
Therefore, the first thing that Indonesia’s government could do to elevate our suffering is to lift all the several restrictions applied.
A good policy initiative would be to issue Refugee Temporary Stay Permit Cards to refugees in transit to resettlement, thus far and allowing us to work legally.
Such a policy will not only improve the health and dignity of the refugees, we will be able to pay taxes to Indonesia government. More importantly, we will be able to contribute to the local economies through our labor, talents, loyalty and allegiance, building communities and working with all Indonesians towards a brighter future.
In another helpful policy direction, Indonesia could use its position on the UN Security Council to ensure that signatory of UN Refugee convention remain committed to their promises on refugees resettlement.
We humbly ask Indonesia to use its influence with Australia to ask for an increase of its annual refugee intake from Indonesia. Australia is a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention and bears a strong responsibility towards refugees, which it has neglected ever since its policy of turning refugee boats back to Indonesia.
We believe Indonesia would benefit if you considered refugees as valuable additions to your population. Most of us are of Asian descent and most of us share ethnicity, culture and same religion.
We are eager to learn, young and bright; we have ambition, skills and energy to contribute to the Indonesian community. With these attributes, we will add to the welfare and the wealth of the country which has kindly helped us in our hour of need.
Thank you.
J.N. Joniad is a Rohingya journalist. He is a student of political science and human rights activist. He was formerly an Engineering and Physics student in Myanmar, before being forced to flee to Indonesia where he is living now. Joniad contributes to film and publishing accounts of refugees searching for a safe and durable solution
