A boatful of 140 Rohingyan refugees, mostly women and children, have been left stranded one mile off the coast of Indonesia as locals refuse to allow the asylum seekers to make landfall.
The wooden boat, located off the coast of the Indonesian province of Aceh, has been floating off the coast since Friday.
Three Rohingyans died during the nearly two-week-long trip from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh to the waters off Labuhan Haji in South Aceh district, local police said.
“Our community, the fishing community, refuses to let them land because of what happened in other places. They have caused unrest to local residents,” said Muhammad Jabal, the chief of the fishing community in South Aceh.
A large banner hanging at the seaport read: “The people of South Aceh Regency reject the arrival of Rohingya refugees in the South Aceh Regency area.”
The group left Cox’s Bazar on October 9, according to an Aceh police report, and intended to reach Malaysia.
Some passengers on the boat had reportedly paid to be transported to other countries.
Local residents have given the group food, Mr Jabal said, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has also provided them with food.
There were 216 people on board when the boat departed Bangladesh and 50 of them reportedly disembarked in Indonesia’s Riau province, according to police.
Aceh police have taken three suspects into custody on allegations of people smuggling.
They include about 740,000 who fled a brutal counterinsurgency campaign in 2017 by Myanmar’s security forces, who were accused of committing mass rapes and killings.
The Rohingya minority in Myanmar faces widespread discrimination. Most are denied citizenship.
Indonesia, like Thailand and Malaysia, is not a signatory to the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention and is not obligated to accept them. However, the country generally provides temporary shelter to refugees in distress.
In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from atop the overturned hull of a boat off the coast of Aceh.
Another 67 passengers, including at least 28 children, had been killed when the boat capsized, according to the UNHCR.
The Associated Press reported at the time that the boat’s captain and crew had tortured women and girls on board before the vessel capsized.
