LHOKSEUMAWE, Indonesia: For two weeks, Mr Mohammad Ershad, his wife and two sons were crammed inside the hull of a wooden fishing boat with 218 others.
To avoid detection by the authorities, the Rohingyas were told by people smugglers to stay below deck for the majority of their 1,800km journey across the treacherous Andaman Sea from Bangladesh to Indonesia.
They had to eat and sleep in dark, humid and crowded compartments that were normally used to store fish. Water occasionally seeped into the three-by-ten metre hull, Mr Ershad recounted, and the compartments reeked of exhaust fumes and fuel from the engine bay.
By the time the boat entered Indonesian waters, the boat’s captain and crew were long gone and the boat was left at the mercy of the waves.
The refugees were weak and dehydrated, having eaten nothing for the last four days, Mr Ershad, 28, told CNA. Despite this, everyone sprang to life when the boat drifted onto the shores of Ujong Kareung village, in Indonesia’s northernmost province Aceh at 10pm on Nov 21.
The refugees were so desperate to disembark that most left their possessions behind and the boat was tipping to one side, he said.
“We came to Indonesia because Indonesia has been very nice to Rohingyas,” Mr Ershad said.
The refugees were expecting salvation and sympathy from the locals; what they got was rejection.
“They tried to take us back to the boat. They were going to tow the boat back to sea,” said Mr Ershad, adding that there were shouting, scuffles and threats of violence by the villagers.
The refugees were eventually allowed to remain after the local government promised to relocate them from the village within 24 hours. At 6pm the following day, they were transported to a dilapidated building in the city of Lhokseumawe, 213km away from Ujong Kareung.
What has triggered the Acehnese’s change in attitude towards Rohingya refugees?
SURGE IN ARRIVALS SINCE NOVEMBER
Since Nov 14, more than 1,600 Rohingyas including women and children as young as a year old have arrived in Aceh. The figure is more than double the refugees who arrived in the province in 2022, and the journey can be deadly. The BBC reported that at least one child died because of dehydration while at sea.
The latest batch, comprising 50 people, arrived on a boat on Dec 14 to East Aceh regency. One refugee told local media that there were originally 129 people on board but they had to switch to a smaller boat because the previous one broke down in the waters near Thailand. This means there are at least 79 more passengers en route to Indonesia.
Analysts say the sudden surge is linked to heightened tensions in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where Rohingya Muslims have been persecuted for decades. Another factor is the worsening living conditions in Bangladesh, where close to one million Rohingyas are currently seeking refuge.
The influx also had to do with the end of the monsoon season in the Bay of Bengal when the Andaman Sea is calmer. This year, the monsoon season began in June and ended in mid-October.
In Lhokseumawe, there can be as many as 15 people sharing a three-by-three metre room while the building’s main hall is occupied by more than 100 refugees.
Every afternoon, a long queue of people wait to use the bathrooms as children play in an unpaved courtyard where the earth turns into mud after downpours.
But conditions at the Indonesian camps are still better than the ones in Bangladesh, said 25-year-old Imam Husein.
“Here, I feel safe,” said Mr Imam, who came to Indonesia with his wife and two children last month. “In Bangladesh, there are gangs who ask for money. I prefer Indonesia over Bangladesh.”
Mr Imam’s family left Myanmar in 2017, as the country launched a brutal crackdown on the Rohingyas. “I saw people getting killed and houses burned down with my own eyes,” he said.
His parents are still in Bangladesh because they cannot afford to pay the US$1,000 fee to go to Indonesia.
Before landing in Ulee Madon village in North Aceh regency on Nov 16, a boat carrying 249 refugees was twice turned back by locals in neighbouring Bireun regency.
In both instances, local fishermen prevented the boat from reaching the shorelines and tugged the boat back to open waters, refugees and locals said.
The people smuggler manning the boat had escaped, so the boat was at the mercy of the currents, which took them east to North Aceh regency.
Mr Saiful Fuadi, a customary leader which oversees 10 villages including Ulee Madon, said villagers were reluctant to take the refugees in.
“But they landed at night when people were sleeping. By morning, the beach was full of them,” he said.
Villagers in West Lapang village in Bireun regency felt the same way when 256 refugees landed on their shores on Nov 19.
“The government asked us if they can keep the refugees here,” said village chief Muchtar who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name.
“It’s okay,” said 17-year-old Abdul Rahman when asked how he felt about being an attraction to curious locals. “They are nice. They gave us food sometimes.”
But Aris Munandar, a security guard manning the camp, said the welcome is slowly wearing off.
“There are people who are not pleased that their village is used as a refugee camp, especially now that they have been here for weeks,” he said.
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION NEEDED
Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention but has allowed refugees from Myanmar and other war-torn countries like Afghanistan and Syria to stay until the UN refugee agency UNHCR can find another country willing to accept them permanently.
Although Indonesia adopts the non-refoulement principle – meaning it will not deport refugees and asylum seekers back to their countries – as a non-signatory, it is not obliged to grant citizenship to any of the 12,000 refugees currently residing in the country.
The refugees are also barred from legally holding jobs in Indonesia because of their immigration status. This means their livelihoods depend solely on UNHCR as well as donations from other charitable organisations.
Earlier this month, Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin mooted the possibility of putting up the refugees on Galang island near Batam.
Meanwhile, Aceh acting governor Achmad Marzuki told reporters that rejection by the local population was “understandable”.
“We perfectly understand people’s situation, how uncomfortable they must feel if their plantations or backyard are occupied by 200 to 300 refugees who need access to all sorts of care and facilities,” he said on Dec 11.
“The government’s job is to figure out how soon we can come up with a new location.”