16 of Myanmar's Rohingya Minority Arrested, Detained in Bogor
Bogor. A 16-year-old Rohingya refugee who was arrested in Bogor last week said it was no longer safe for members of his ethnic group to live in Myanmar, his home country.
Imron Uliamat is one of 16 Rohingya arrested last week by police in Cisarua subdistrict in Bogor after coming to Indonesia by boat.
The news comes as reports flowing out of Myanmar continue to describe killings and arbitrary violence against the Rohingya minority in northern Rakhine state.
Imron said his older brother, Makrih, contacted him from Cisarua, where he had settled earlier. He told him to come Indonesia because it was the best way to reach Australia, their final destination.
“I first left Myanmar by boat to Malaysia,” he told the Jakarta Globe at a police detention facility in Bogor on Sunday. “Once in Malaysia, we continued to Batam [Riau Islands] by fishing boat.”
They made it to Ujung Genteng, Sukabumi, on the south coast of Java, then took a bus to Bogor, Imron said.
On Thursday, the 16 Rohingya were arrested. Thirty-eight asylum-seekers from the Middle East were also arrested in Sukabumi that day.
Amnesty International has reported that hundreds of Muslim Rohingya are being killed, raped, beaten and arbitrarily arrested since the Myanmar government declared a state of emergency in northern Rakhine state, on the border with Bangladesh. Neither Myanmar nor Bangladesh considers the Rohingya as citizens.
Bogor Police spokeswoman Adj. Comr. Ita Puspita Lena said the asylum-seekers were locked up in Bogor but would be transferred to the custody of the immigration directorate general.
Bogor immigration office chief Bambang Catur said all the asylum-seekers would be detained in a holding facility in Kalideres, West Jakarta, where they would be interviewed by the International Organization for Migration to determine their refugee status.
Imron said he hoped the Indonesian government could help him get asylum. “We just want somewhere to live safely and peacefully,” he said.
Bogor. A 16-year-old Rohingya refugee who was arrested in Bogor last week said it was no longer safe for members of his ethnic group to live in Myanmar, his home country.
Imron Uliamat is one of 16 Rohingya arrested last week by police in Cisarua subdistrict in Bogor after coming to Indonesia by boat.
The news comes as reports flowing out of Myanmar continue to describe killings and arbitrary violence against the Rohingya minority in northern Rakhine state.
Imron said his older brother, Makrih, contacted him from Cisarua, where he had settled earlier. He told him to come Indonesia because it was the best way to reach Australia, their final destination.
“I first left Myanmar by boat to Malaysia,” he told the Jakarta Globe at a police detention facility in Bogor on Sunday. “Once in Malaysia, we continued to Batam [Riau Islands] by fishing boat.”
They made it to Ujung Genteng, Sukabumi, on the south coast of Java, then took a bus to Bogor, Imron said.
On Thursday, the 16 Rohingya were arrested. Thirty-eight asylum-seekers from the Middle East were also arrested in Sukabumi that day.
Amnesty International has reported that hundreds of Muslim Rohingya are being killed, raped, beaten and arbitrarily arrested since the Myanmar government declared a state of emergency in northern Rakhine state, on the border with Bangladesh. Neither Myanmar nor Bangladesh considers the Rohingya as citizens.
Bogor Police spokeswoman Adj. Comr. Ita Puspita Lena said the asylum-seekers were locked up in Bogor but would be transferred to the custody of the immigration directorate general.
Bogor immigration office chief Bambang Catur said all the asylum-seekers would be detained in a holding facility in Kalideres, West Jakarta, where they would be interviewed by the International Organization for Migration to determine their refugee status.
Imron said he hoped the Indonesian government could help him get asylum. “We just want somewhere to live safely and peacefully,” he said.
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