“Refugees are neither seen nor heard, but they are everywhere. They are witnesses to the most awful things that people can do to each other, and they become storytellers simply by existing. Refugees embody misery and suffering, and they force us to confront terrible chaos and evil” .

Arthur c. Helton said these lines and these can’t be more suitable than for the current state of Rohingya refugees.

The Rohingya Refugees confront a wave of hatred and rejection in Indonesia, local populations say they are tired of seeing more boats arrive with the persecuted ethnic minority from Myanmar.

An approximate 1487 refugees have arrived in Indonesia in recent weeks according to the Ministry of Political, Legal, and Security affairs most of them in Aceh, on the western tip of Samatra.

The refugees have faced intolerance and fears that their boats may be turned around this year. Last week showed demonstrators on Aceh’s island of Sabang removing tents that the Rohingya had built ashore as makeshift shelters. They also threatened to drive their boat back out to sea.

Arrivals often peak in November and April, when the seas are calmer, when Rohingya take boats to neighboring Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, countries where Muslims predominate.

Why are Rohingya Refugees unwelcomed?

The President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, attributed the recent increase in immigration to human trafficking in a statement released on Friday. He also pledged to collaborate with foreign organizations to provide temporary housing.

The Rohingya have been fleeing Buddhist-majority Myanmar for years, fearing mistreatment, denial of citizenship, and popular perception as foreign invaders from South Asia.

Such landings were previously rejected by Malaysia and Thailand but accepted by Indonesia. However, pressure to act has been applied to President Joko Widodo’s government by certain Indonesians who are becoming more hostile toward the Rohingya, who are refugees from Bangladeshi camps.

Speaking at a press conference in Jakarta, the foreign ministry’s spokesperson Muhammad Iqbal said, “We see that the handling of the refugee problem, especially the resettlement issue, has been very slow so far.” In an attempt to address the Rohingya refugee issue, he called on the international community to “show more responsibility.”

Indonesia is not required to admit refugees since, like Thailand and Malaysia, it is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention that outlines their legal safeguards. All have previously given desperate refugees a place to stay, if only temporarily.

Widodo stated on Monday that the Indonesian government will continue to provide short-term assistance to the refugees.

The Rohingya are accused by the locals as being misbehaving, being a burden, and in certain cases, pushing their boats away. Disgruntled locals pushed officials to remove the 300 Rohingya who had arrived in Aceh over the weekend on two boats, bringing some of them to the provincial governor’s offices in trucks.

As life in refugee camps gets harsher due to cuts in food rations and an increase in gang violence, there is concern that the number of Rohingya making the perilous sea crossing may increase in the coming months.

Too many newly arrived Rohingya are being detained in “unsuitable sites,” according to Ann Maymann, a UNHCR representative in Aceh. She said to The Associated Press that they are collaborating with partners to deliver aid.

The Plight of Refugees

Some 740,000 Rohingya were resettled in Bangladesh after abandoning their homes in neighboring Myanmar due to a violent counterinsurgency campaign carried out by security forces in 2017.

There is ample evidence of mass rape, murder, and village burning accusations, and international courts are debating whether the government of Myanmar committed genocide and other serious violations of human rights. The inability to guarantee the safety of the Rohingya has hindered efforts to return them.

In Myanmar, where Buddhism predominates, the Muslim Rohingya are primarily denied citizenship rights and frequently subjected to social discrimination. The bulk of refugees who flee by water want to find employment in Malaysia, a country with a majority of Muslims.

Of Indonesia’s 277 million citizens, approximately 90% are Muslims. However, there has been a rise in anti-Rohingya sentiment this year, particularly in Aceh, which is where the majority of them end up landing on the northern half of the island of Sumatra.