More than 140 Rohingya arrive in Indonesia's North Sumatra

Over 140 Rohingya, a Muslim minority from Myanmar, have reportedly landed in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province over the weekend, according to a report released on Monday by the state news agency Antara. The Antara report, which quoted a police official, stated that the group, which was primarily made up of women and children, came by boat in the Deli Serdang district of North Sumatra late on Saturday. The military announced last week that it had chased away a boat carrying Rohingya in waters farther north near Sumatra, prompting the arrivals. The Rohingya ethnic group is being persecuted and is increasingly facing hatred and rejection in Indonesia. Based on information from the UN agency for refugees, more than 1,500 Rohingya have arrived in Indonesia since November (UNCHR). For years Rohingya have been leaving Myanmar, where they are generally regarded as foreign interlopers from South Asia, denied citizenship and subjected to abuse. They depart usually for Indonesia or neighbouring Malaysia from November to April, when the seas are calmer. Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees, but has a history of taking in refugees if they arrive.