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Indonesian students storm shelter for Rohingya refugees in Aceh to demand their deportation

Indonesian students storm shelter for Rohingya refugees in Aceh to demand their deportation

The clip went viral and was widely criticised, including by many Indonesians. However, it was Jamal’s blistering condemnation of the students’ action that struck a chord and led to widespread soul-searching, particularly in the way she related the rejection of the Rohingya to Indonesia’s strong support for Palestinians.

In an Instagram video, Jamal – a journalist based in Germany who has written for outlets including Al Jazeera and The New Arab – denounced the students’ attack as “atrocious and sad”. Screenshots of her posts were later reposted to X by user @margianta.

“People believe that hatred of the refugee, of the vulnerable, is often because of their religious differences. No, it has everything to do with the slight possibility of losing power. Of loving privilege. Even if your power is not threatened, risking seeing the most vulnerable as humans can be enough for these people to believe they have to give up something in order for others to be free,” Jamal said.

“I truly give up on humanity. Sometimes I feel like it exists nowhere. Indonesia came with 2 million people to protest for a free Palestine? Means nothing if you do s*** like this. We don’t want your support if you treat refugees with the same hatred Israelis treat Palestinians,” she added. “All of us are free, or none of us are free.”

The X post featuring Jamal’s criticism has received more than 3 million impressions on X. Many of the replies and quote tweets are from Indonesians apologising to Jamal for their fellow citizens’ actions and hypocrisy.

In a subsequent Instagram story, Jamal responded by saying: “You don’t need to apologise to me. Let’s all do our best to make sure our friends and family do not succumb to anti-migrant, and anti-refugee rhetoric that allows the makings of a genocide to take place to begin with.”

However, Jamal took to X on Saturday to further discuss her viral posts, writing that she was “harassed by hundred and hundreds of angry Indonesians who … ‘don’t want to be a second Palestine’ as they see Rohingya refugees as invaders and compare them to actual settler colonialists”.

“I guess I could be quiet and let this all die down ... but I truly only care about what my God thinks of me,” she wrote. “Treat others as subhuman, and us Palestinians refuse your support.”

This Week in Asia has reached out to Jamal for further comment on her posts.

Media interviews with students who took part in the December 27 incident revealed that they were motivated by false reports, spread on social media, that the refugees were demanding land and being given money by the Indonesian government.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has warned that misinformation campaigns, boosted by fake social media accounts purporting to represent the UN, were helping to stoke Indonesians’ resentment towards Rohingya refugees.

‘Parasites’: spike in Rohingya arrivals tests Aceh’s sympathy for their plight

Indonesia has appealed to the international community for help and intensified patrols of its waters due to a sharp rise in Rohingya refugees leaving overcrowded camps in Bangladesh since November. More than 1,500 Rohingya have arrived in Aceh and faced some hostility from fellow Muslims.

Indonesia, like Thailand and Malaysia, is not a signatory to the UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention, so is not obliged to accept the Rohingya. So far, refugees in distress have received at least temporary accommodation.

Additional reporting by Reuters and Associated Press