The rescue of Rohingya refugees in Aceh on June 2020 resulted in the prison sentence for three fishermen. The District Court of Lhoksukon sentenced Faisal Afrizal, Afrizal, and Abdul Aziz to 5 years in prison for conducting a criminal offence of people smuggling.

This situation shows that there is a terror committed by the government against parties who helped Rohingya refugees who fled to Indonesia in order to save themselves from persecution in Myanmar. The court failed to uphold justice and for not being able to see the life-saving humanitarian act conducted by the fishermen. The ruling created a bad precedent for the track record of Aceh in helping the Rohingya refugees.

Rohingya is one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. For hundreds of years, Rohingya in Myanmar have faced institutionalized discrimination, including through the exclusion of this ethnicity from their citizenship laws which made them stateless. Practices of violence against them continued to occur and become the world's attention. Despite this, the protection for the Rohingya group is still far from enough. In January 2020, the United Nations ordered Myanmar to take action to protect the Rohingya from genocide. The history of discrimination and genocide that took place against them continues even today and have been increasingly worsened after the military junta came to power in February 2021.

Boat, Water, Refugee, Escape, Asylum, Politically
Stranded boats at sea

In June and September 2020, there were two waves of Rohingya refugees stranded in the waters of Aceh and successfully saved the local community, even though there had been a refusal by the local government. In June 2020, the majority of 99 refugees who were rescued consisted of vulnerable groups. There were 32 adult women and 51 children. Their arrival in the waters of Lancok quickly gained the empathy of the local community after their weeks adrift in the ocean and traumatic experience during the trip. Instead of being appreciated for their swift rescue, the fishermen who brought the Rohingyas to the land faced criminal charges of human smuggling, as regulated in the Law on Immigration and the Indonesian Penal Code.

The refugees who escaped as a result of the persecution and the absence of the protection of their country of origin often have no choice but to voluntarily become a victim of human trafficking. They understand that staying there is not an option and decided to run away with all the energy and resource that they have to find safety, including using the services of smugglers. As long as the armed conflict and the persecution are still going on in different countries, the business of human smuggling will continue to be the primary choice of the refugees to save themselves.

The five years prison time sentenced to the fishermen became a bad practice for Indonesia in providing protection for refugees and also stained the values of justice, especially in Aceh. Aceh is a region that can be considered special in its acceptance of refugees. Looking back into the history of Bangladesh and Rohingya refugee arrivals from Myanmar in 2015, the role Acehnese people were immense as a form of humanitarian support. The sense of solidarity between them might not be separated from the context of the brotherhood that exists due to the shared religion within the majority of the population of Aceh and the Rohingya refugees.

The important role of fishermen in the rescue of refugees is also closely related with the fishermen's tradition in Aceh known as the Panglima Laot. This customary law that has been practiced by the fishermen communities in Aceh regulates fishing practices and social interaction of the community. Panglima Laot has contributed greatly in the rescue of people stranded in the ocean, including refugees.

Criminalization of three fishermen in Aceh has hurt the local value and customary law in Aceh. The verdict of the judges in this case did not contain substantive justice because it is bridled by the procedural provisions of the law. The impact of this decision is the fear and intimidation experienced by the fishermen communities in Aceh to rescue refugees who need help in the sea.

The state should be able to comprehend the situation of global displacement by prioritizing humanity as a part of the international community to provide protection for groups that are persecuted, especially the Rohingya refugees. Indonesia is currently becoming an example for other countries in the Southeast Asian region that had not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention but has progressively provide legal recognition for refugees through the Presidential Regulation on the Handling of Foreign Refugees. Indonesia is also in the spotlight in the regional efforts regarding the issue of Myanmar's military junta, which could potentially trigger the mobilization of new refugees from Myanmar to the neighboring countries. In the future, the Indonesian government is expected to further improve the human rights-based policy in handling refugees in Indonesia, which now amounts to almost 14 thousand people.

Law enforcement agencies, especially the judge, are supposed to deliver justice instead of interpreting the law as a rigid text. By understanding the context of global displacement and combining it with the experience at the national level, the judge in this case was expected to give a verdict with a sense of substantive justice. The judge of the High Court of Aceh is now expected to give a ruling that brings justice for the appeal submitted by the fishermen.

The government should have implemented Presidential Regulation in the rescue of stranded refugees in spry. Through the strategic budget allocation and readiness of the relevant agencies in the conduct of search and rescue of refugees, the government can prevent the practice of people smuggling and stop the criminalization of the those who help rescue the refugees.

Suspects, Criminals, People, Caught, Police, Crime, Law
Criminalization Illustration

In the regulatory framework, the government needs to take a serious scrutiny at the implementation and the ability of the Presidential Regulation in conducting human rights-based refugee handling. According to SUAKA, the regulation is very technical and does not have the perspective of human rights, even though Indonesia is a country that has adopted the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The government needs to consider forming a stronger regulation in the level of laws (Undang-Undang) to regulate refugee displacement and set a good example of social inclusion in Southeast Asia.

Aceh government can also establish a good precedent at the local level by starting a dialogue about human rights-based Qanun that governs the role of the community in regards to refugee acceptance. The Qanun is expected to contribute in the efforts to improve the protection of refugees and the community, including protecting the fisherman who practices the local wisdom, such as the system of Panglima Laot.

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Tulisan ini telah terbit di Koran Tempo dalam bahasa Indonesia dengan judul Kriminalisasi Nelayan Penyelamat Rohingya.

Sources:

RRI.co.id, Putusan Hakim Terhadap 3 Nelayan Aceh Utara Sangat Berat, 2021. https://rri.co.id/banda-aceh/31-hukum/1084569/putusan-hakim-terhadap-3-nelayan-aceh-utara-sangat-berat?utm_source=terbaru_widget&utm_medium=internal_link&utm_campaign=General%20Campaign

BBC, Myanmar Rohingya: What you need to know about the crisis, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41566561

New York Times, Myanmar’s Coup and Violence, Explained, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/article/myanmar-news-protests-coup.html

Kompas, Debar-debar Pengungsi Rohingya, 2020. https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/2020/08/21/114218065/debar-debar-pengungsi-rohingya?page=all

Detik, Menlu: Indonesia Terima 400 Pengungsi Rohingya Dalam 2 Bulan, 2020. https://news.detik.com/berita/d-5170679/menlu-indonesia-terima-400-pengungsi-rohingya-dalam-2-bulan 

Aceh Tribunnews, Jaksa dan Pengacara Ajukan Banding Atas Vonis Hakim Terhadap Nelayan Aceh yang Jemput Rohingya, 2021. https://aceh.tribunnews.com/2021/06/22/jaksa-dan-pengacara-ajukan-bandingatas-vonis-hakim-terhadap-nelayan-aceh-yang-jemput-rohingya