Agung Pratama

Delegation of Indonesia
Maintaining Security in Southeast Asia in the Face of the Rohingya Crisis

According to the UN Charter, the purpose of the United

Nations is, “to achieve international cooperation in solving
international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or
humanitarian character, and in promoting and

encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without
distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” The government of Myanmar fails to follow
this standard when dealing with the Rohingya crisis. The Rohingya people‟s population is
about one million, although, the Rohingya people are considered to be a minority group in
Myanmar‟s Rakhine State. The former defense minister of Myanmar, Shahidul Haque, said,
“The 1978 agreement they [the Burmese government] has recognized the Rohingya as
„Myanmar citizens by law‟”. But, the Myanmar government considers the Rohingya people
to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. For the past few decades the Myanmar
government has treated the Rohingya people horribly, attacking families, killing innocents,
and driving people from their homes. About 288 Rohingya villages have been destroyed after
August 2017 by riots and attacks from the non-Rohingya Rakhine community.

The Rohingya crisis has spanned for centuries dating back to 1992. In March, the
Bangladesh military accused the Myanmar government of reinforcing its borders to stop more
than 170,000 Muslims who fled Myanmar and were returning. Following March 1992, the
Foreign Minister of Myanmar, Ohn Gyaw, started to negotiate with the Bangladeshi
government for the return of more than 212,000 Muslim refugees. In May, an agreement was
reached, and Muslims were allowed to re-enter Myanmar. Not long after the agreement,
Myanmar and Bangladesh started to point fingers at one another, as many Muslims were not
returning home. Muslim refugees refused to return because they don‟t want to face the same
problems which caused them to leave. Muslims wanted the UNHCR to monitor the
repatriation but the Myanmar government did not accept this condition. After the failed 1992
repatriation agreement, the Rohingya refugee crisis grew. The government of Myanmar was
did not realize the severity of this problem and disregarded the attacks the Rohingya and
Muslim people were victims of. In November of 1993, about 30,000 refugees fled Bangladesh
for countries such as India or China to avoid being forced back to Myanmar although, 46,000
refugees did return to Myanmar. Throughout the next few years, the efforts to bring Muslims
back into Myanmar slowly decreased and virtually stopped in 1997.

The Rohingya crisis continued to grow for the next couple of years. In 2012, a series
of conflicts between the Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhines arose. Riots were committed
by mostly Buddhist Rakhine who feared that they would become a minority ethnicity in their
ancestral state. Violence spilled out, rape and murder of Rakhine woman by Rohingya men
and murder of ten Rohingya by Rakhines. The conflict was creating a lot of tension in
Myanmar, but the government did nothing to bring both sides to a ceasefire. In fact, Rakhine
men were bribed by the government with free food and busing to attend riots. The
government of Myanmar became completely biased and defended Buddhism. The
government also create the picture that the Rohingya people were the enemy. The number of
riots, rapes, and killings increased to the point where most of the Rohingya people fled to
neighbor countries.
 The government of Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has tried to manage
domestic anger over Myanmar‟s violence against the Rohingya by a combination of high-
level diplomacy and humanitarian aid. Domestically, the combination has worked, and
President Jokowi is under no serious pressure to take more dramatic measures that might
jeopardise its relations with Myanmar, a fellow member of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN). There is no indication thus far, however, that diplomacy, whether
bilateral or multilateral, has won any concessions on the Rohingya from Myanmar. The
question is whether Indonesia can use its newly-won seat as a non-permanent member of the
U.N. Security Council to press for a solution that includes greater access by humanitarian
organisations and citizenship rights and freedom of movement for Rohingya inside
Myanmar.
Indonesia and the Rohingya Crisis, the latest report from the Institute for Policy
Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), looks at Indonesia‟s efforts to respond to the late 2017 violence
against the Rohingya that led to one of the largest, fastest refugee flows on record, with more
than 700,000 people flooding into Bangladesh in a matter of weeks.
Indonesia‟s main vehicle for providing humanitarian aid in the camps has been an
eleven-member coalition called Indonesian Humanitarian Alliance (IHA), led by the
country‟s two largest mainstream Muslim social organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama and
Muhammadiyah. A few Islamist groups are also included. But groups outside the
government-sanctioned alliance are also active in the camps. Thus far, there is no evidence
of that either ARSA or any of the Indonesians outside IHA working in the camps have ties to
global jihadi organisations. But if routes and contacts are set up, it may be a matter of time
before communication between Indonesian extremists and ARSA – or more radical Rohingya
networks in the camps – is established.
Indonesia thus has a strong interest in pressing its “4 + 1 Formula” as a U.N. Security
Council member. The formula, first raised by Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi with Aung
San Suu Kyi in September 2017, is restoration of stability and security; maximum self-
restraint and commitment not to use violence; protection of all persons in Rakhine State,
regardless of race and religion; and immediate access for humanitarian assistance. The “plus”
is the implementation of the recommendations of Kofi Annan‟s Advisory Commission on
Rakhine State.
The delegation of Indonesia is proposing a system where neighbor countries take in a
specific number of Rohingya refugees like a burden-sharing refugee network. As this
solutions purely relies on the neighbor countries to accommodate for the refugees, Indonesia
proposes that other countries that can contribute resources to help evacuate Rohingya people
and provide them with aid. This solution also includes bringing in NGOs to the neighboring
countries to help with helping the refugees settle into a new country. If the Rohingya people
are evacuated, this will stymie the tension in Myanmar. Although, this will not end the hatred
towards Rohingya people in Myanmar. During this time, peacekeepers can be brought in to
Myanmar and negotiate with the people and the government. Through the evacuation of
Rohingya refugees, the environment will be less hostile and easier to negotiate in. After
negotiations and an environment safe for the refugees is build, the Rohingya people can
return to their homes and live a normal life in Myanmar.