Galang Island in Indonesia may house Rohingya refugees

Galang Island in Indonesia may house Rohingya refugees

2024-01-19

The U.N. estimates more than a million Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar in successive waves. And while most ended up in neighboring Bangladesh, some have taken boats to Indonesia where authorities are now considering using an island once used for resettlement of Vietnamese refugees. Voice of America’s Ahadian Utama has more.

It’s very quiet these days, on Galang Island, a small island some 40 kilometers from the main island of Batam in Indonesia’s Riau Islands, and only around 84 kilometers from neighboring Singapore.

These barracks are the only remaining structure that used to house Vietnamese refugees.

Abunawas Tanawolo
Galang islander
There used to be thousands of barracks here, but now only one remains. The others are now destroyed, because they are made of wood…

Fifty-year-old Abunawas Tanawolo was a security guard at the former refugee camp and has lived on the island since childhood. He remembers playing with Vietnamese children from the camp and was very close to one family of Vietnamese refugees.

From 1979 to 1996, this island was home to Vietnamese refugees fleeing conflict in their homeland, mostly by boat, along with some Cambodians and Laotians doing the same. By some estimates, some 250 thousand refugees once called this island their temporary home.

What remains now are crumbling empty buildings, like this former Indonesian Red Cross Hospital, an old Vietnamese Catholic Church, and a cemetery for Vietnamese refugees who died before being able to be resettled. The site is now a memorial and tourist attraction. But the island itself is now finding itself at the center of a debate about a new wave of refugees.

Indonesian authorities are now considering Galang Island to house Muslim Rohingya refugees, fleeing Myanmar by boat, and arriving in nearby Aceh Province, in the westernmost part of the Indonesian archipelago.

Some Galang islanders are concerned about the resettlement proposal.

Dewi Purwanti
Galang islander
We as locals, object to Rohingya refugees being placed here, because there will be consequences for us. Because even people in Aceh are uneasy with the presence of Rohingya refugees there.

According to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of Rohingya refugees who entered Indonesia via Aceh since November reached more than 1,500 people.

Ahadian Utama, VOA News, Batam, Indonesia.

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