"Right now we are still collecting detailed information about the clash in Medan and necessary actions would be taken immediately to prevent the horizontal conflict in Myanmar from spread to Indonesia," Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia will take necessary measures to prevent the horizontal conflict in Myanmar from spreading to other ASEAN countries following the incident in Medan, North Sumatra, early on Friday, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said.
"Right now we are still collecting detailed information about the clash in Medan and necessary actions would be taken immediately to prevent the horizontal conflict in Myanmar from spread to Indonesia," he said.
Early this morning 117 Rohingya refugees and 11 illegal fishermen from Myanmar in the immigration detention center in Belawan clashed, leaving eight people dead.
"We did not know yet why the illegal fishermen and the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar had been put in the same place," he said.
He said the case was now being handled by the police and so people need not be worried.
Marty admitted that unstable conditions in one country could become a non-traditional threat for other countries in the region.
In view of that, instability in Myanmar caused by horizontal conflict could also become a threat to other countries in Southeast Asia including Indonesia.
"The pattern in principle also applies to other countries in Southeast Asia," he said.
Tension in Myanmar meanwhile still remains high following riots that left 40 people dead in Meihkhtila last week.
The sectarian conflict in Myanmar since last year has made hundred thousand Myanmarese people from Rakhine to flee to other countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and even Australia.
A United Nations official has also expressed worries over the possibility of the conflict in Myanmar to spread to other countries in the region.
"The horizontal conflict in Myanmar could have implications on the region and so regional approach is needed for its settlement," UN secretary general`s special adviser for Myanmar affairs, Vijay Nambiar, said here on Friday.
The regional implications include a clash in Medan early on Friday morning, he said.
He said the conflict also has caused other regional problems such as problems of refugees in Bangladesh and other Southeast Asian countries.
These refugees have generally been denied citizenship by the recipient countries and some others have even died of hunger in the sea such as what happened last February.
"So, a regional approach is needed to solve the conflict," he said. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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