Most migrants stranded at sea are Bangladeshis, claims Indonesia

Jakarta has refuted Dhaka’s claim that most of the Malaysia-bound migrants stranded on boats in the Andaman Sea are Rohingyas from Myanmar.

It claims 30 to 40 percent of the stranded migrants are Rohingyas while the rest are from Bangladesh.
 
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop had said that Indonesian officials told her during a meeting in Seoul that most of the stranded boat migrants were Bangladeshis, The Australian reported.
 
“They (Indonesia) believe there are about 7000 people at sea (and) they think about 30-40 per cent of them are Rohingyas, the rest are Bangladeshis; and they are not, in Indonesia’s words, asylum-seekers, they are not refugees, they are illegal labourers, they’ve been promised or are seeking jobs in Malaysia,” Bishop was quoted as saying by The Australian.
 
On Thursday, Bangladesh’s State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had said that most of the people on boats were Rohingyas, only a few were from Bangladesh.
 
The recent discovery of slave camps, used to detain illegal migrants in Thailand’s jungles, has prompted the Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia and Indonesia to gear up to prevent people smuggling and trafficking.
 
Boats carrying migrants are not being allowed to shore on the coasts of these countries. Deaths of stranded migrants due to starving at sea have been reported.
 
Amid calls from the international community, Malaysia and Indonesia have assured to provide temporary shelters to people stuck in boats at the sea.
 
Bishop told The Australian on Saturday that she was told by Indonesia’s Director-General of Multilateral Affairs Hasan Kleib that a boat carrying 600 people had 400 Bangladeshis aboard.
 
According to Indonesian authorities, around 7,000 people are stranded on boats in the Andaman Sea.  

Dhaka, however, said that few Bangladeshis might have boarded the boats to head for Malaysia, but most of the migrants were Rohingyas.
 

“Those who are stranded may speak Bangla and may claim themselves to be Bangladeshis.

“...but a close look at the women, children and old-people reveals that most of them are Rohingyas,” State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had told reporters in Dhaka on Thursday.

Over 500,000 Rohingyas are currently living in Bangladesh as refugees and according to reports of intelligence agencies, many of them are involved in criminal activities.

“They said the Rohingyas have gone to Bangladesh and have mixed up with the Bangladeshis who are coming to Malaysia in particular for jobs,” Bishop was quoted saying on Saturday.

Australia has been for long taking a strict stance against providing shelters to migrants arriving on boats. It says providing shelter only encourages peoples smuggling and trafficking.

Bangladesh, however, has said that it will take steps to bring back those among the stranded identified as its citizens.