Jokowi Calls for Acceleration of Refugees' Shelter Construction
23 May 2015 16:06 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called for the construction of shelters for Rohingya refugees to completed within no more than a year. He also called on the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to seek for assistance from other international institutions to help the refugees.
“We also requested the UN to help with the resettlement that is expected to be completed within more than a year,” Jokowi said on Saturday, May 23, 2015 in Jakarta.
Jokowi added that the construction of the shelter would be started upon the finalization of the cost to be paid by the UN and several countries.
Earlier on Wednesday, May 21, 2015, Jokowi said that he had sent Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi to visit Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand over Rohingya refugees. According to Jokowi, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have agreed to take in Rohingya refugees.
Last week, about 1,300 Rohingya refugees were stranded in Sumatera coast. Activists have expressed concerns that thousand others were drowned in Malaka and Andaman straits.
REZA ADITYA