Jakarta (ANTARA) - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin on Tuesday touched upon the possibility of accommodating Rohingya refugees at Galang Island, Batam city, Riau province.
"Where will they be placed? Well, we have Galang Island. We will discuss it later," he said after attending the launch of the Indonesia Sharia Economic Outlook (ISEO) 2024 and the inauguration of the third University of Indonesia's Industrial Government (I-GOV) expo 2023 in Depok, West Java.
The rejection that Rohingya refugees are currently facing from the people in Aceh, Riau, and Medan is a humanitarian problem that must be addressed together by various stakeholders, he added.
Amin said that the Indonesian government has scheduled discussions with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to discuss solutions to the Rohingya refugee issue.
According to the Vice President, several steps to tackle the problem were discussed intensively during a meeting chaired by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, Mahfud MD.
"So far, it is impossible for us to refuse them. We anticipate a rejection from the community and also anticipate all of the refugees to come here. That will be a burden," he said.
Amin, who returned from a working visit to Greece last week, said that other countries are also facing a challenge when it comes to handling Rohingya refugees in their territory.
"From my working visit to Greece, they also face a similar challenge with those refugees. However, this humanitarian problem must be solved," he added.
In a statement, the UNHCR said that 3,705 Rohingya refugees fled by sea in 2022, the highest number since 2015.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Political, Legal, and Security Affairs reported that as many as 1,487 ethnic minority refugees from Myanmar have come to Indonesia as of Monday (December 4, 2023).
Neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Australia are no longer accepting Rohingya refugees.
