Over 700 Rohingya migrants rescued off Indonesia

Indonesian authorities say more than 700 Rohingya Muslim migrants have been rescued by fishing boats off the coast of Indonesia. 

At least 712 Rohingya Muslim migrants from Myanmar landed in the Indonesian city of Langsa on Friday after being dumped by human traffickers.

Indonesian sources said they were rescued by fishing vessels when their boat sank off the coast of Aceh Province.

Samsul Bahri, an immigration official, said the migrants were evacuated from the harbor area. "We are evacuating them from the harbor at the moment.” 

Meanwhile, a senior regional Indonesian police chief accused Malaysian naval forces of turning away migrants stranded at the sea.

"According to initial information we got from them, they were pushed away by the Malaysian navy to the border of Indonesian waters,"  Sunarya, the Langsa police chief, said.  

Thousands of migrants remain trapped at sea following crackdowns on trafficking in Thailand as well as in Malaysia in recent months.

Malaysian patrol ships on Wednesday reportedly pushed back two migrant vessels off the northern Malaysian islands of Penang and Langkawi.  

Reports also indicate that another boat packed with desperate Rohingya migrants was also on the way to Indonesia after leaving Thai waters overnight when the kingdom blocked it from entering the country.

The Thai government has been criticized for pushing boatloads of Rohingya Muslims entering Thai waters back out to sea, and for holding migrants in overcrowded facilities.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has repeatedly called on Myanmar's neighboring countries to accept Rohingya Muslims fleeing the state-sponsored violence.

The Muslim minority group has witnessed attacks by extremist Buddhists in Myanmar. The violence has forced nearly 100,000 of them to flee the country. 

According to the United Nations, the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. They have faced torture, neglect and repression since Myanmar’s independence in 1948. Rohingya refugees mostly flee to neighboring countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Myanmar denies citizenship to its 1.3 million Rohingyas, placing restrictions on their movement, marriages, and economic opportunities. The government has been repeatedly criticized by human rights groups for failing to protect the Rohingyas.

JR/GHN/HMV

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