Long wait for escape
Thousands of displaced Rohingya refugees are camping in Ukhia, near the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar, as they flee violence in their home country. Some 125,000 people have entered Bangladesh fearing genocide in Myanmar and about 20,000 are massed at the border, sleeping in the open and in dire need of food and water.
JAKARTA: Indonesian police have pledged to bar some groups of people from staging a rally at the Borobudur Buddhist temple in central Java to protest against the persecution of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims.
The groups say they plan the Friday demonstration close to the Borobudur temple, which dates from the 9th century and is a popular tourist site, to call for an end to violence against the religious and ethnic minority in Myanmar.
Indonesia has the world’s largest population of Muslims and there have been a number of anti-Myanmar protests in Jakarta and the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur over the treatment of the Rohingya Muslims.
Almost 125,000 Rohingyas have been forced to flee clashes between Rohingya insurgents and the army in Rakhine state. Tens of thousands have crossed the border into neighbouring Bangladesh.
“The action at Borobudur temple will be prohibited,” National Police Chief Tito Karnavian told reporters, according to media.
“There is no need for protests in response to the Rohingya conflict because the Indonesian government is taking action on it already.”
The protest organiser said the groups wanted to protest peacefully near the Borobodur temple to show Indonesia’s tolerance.
“We want the world to know that it is in a majority Muslim country but it is safe. Buddhist monks are safe here too,” said Anang Imamuddin.