The spokesman of PKS and PPP, Irwansyah, made the remarks before passing the views of his factions at the regional Draft Budget Amendment Regulations 2017, here, on Monday.
"Before expressing the views of our factions, let us convey our stance against the issue of the oppressed Rohingya Muslims. We want the Riau Islands (Kepri) government to pay attention to this humanitarian issue seriously," he stated.
Irwansyah further added that the PKS and PPP factions have urged the Kepri administration to coordinate with the central government to give permission to accommodate the oppressed Rohingya Muslims.
"We propose the Pulau Galang (Galang Island) in Batam (Kepri) to be designated as the location to accommodate the oppressed Rohingya Muslims," he explained.
According to him, the Galang Island has a long story of accommodating foreign refugees, such as the Vietnamese boat people, while the country was hit by a conflict.
The measure taken by the government is considered appropriate to demonstrate Indonesias concern over the humanitarian problems in the world.
Indonesia must now demonstrate such a concern (good deed) to tackle the problem of the oppressed Rohingya Muslims, he disclosed.
Earlier, the Kepri governor Nurdin Basirun appreciated donators in the province who had organized the raising of funds of up to Rp230 million to assist the Rohingya Muslims.
Meanwhile, the United Nations estimated that the humanitarian crisis has forced more than 370 thousand refugees to flee from Rakhine in Myanmar to Bangladesh since Aug 25.
In the meantime, President Joko Widodo on Wednesday had released the first delivery of humanitarian assistance for Rohingya refugees on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
Four Hercules planes have delivered the humanitarian aid, including rice, fast food aid, family kits, tents, water tanks, children�s clothing and blankets, to Myanmar.
Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said that the 34 tons of aid included 20 tons of rice, with the remaining being sugar and other foodstuffs. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
