Humanitarian Diplomacy: Indonesia’s Response Toward Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis

Journal of Diplomacy and International Studies https://journal.uir.ac.id/index.php/jdis/index P-ISSN: 2656-3878 E-ISSN 2656-8713 HUMANITARIAN DIPLOMACY: INDONESIA’S RESPONSE TOWARD ROHINGYA HUMANITARIAN CRISIS Indah Mustika Permata1, Nadya Hijrah D.,2 Anita A. Sinulingga3 1 Ilmu Hubungan Internasional, Universitas Andalas, Indonesia; 2 Ilmu Hubungan Internasional, Universitas Andalas, Indonesia; 3 Ilmu Hubungan Internasional, Universitas Andalas, Indonesia; ABSTRACT This paper seeks to explain Indonesia's response to the Rohingya humanitarian crisis in Myanmar in 2017. The purpose of this paper is to explain Indonesia's success in opening up humanitarian space. The Rohingya humanitarian crisis has come to international attention with manifestations such as the pressure on the Myanmar government to stabilize its domestic security, calls for dialogue, and the provision of humanitarian assistance by the United Nations. However, Myanmar declined the invitation and withheld the assistance provided. Amid the refusal, Indonesia emerged as an actor who sought to help deal with the humanitarian crisis which was responded positively by Myanmar. Indonesia's response to the crisis in 2017 was different when the crisis that occurred in 2012, i.e Indonesia rise the Rohingya crisis as a joint problem in the OIC and ASEAN forums. This paper uses qualitative methods using secondary data. The conceptual framework used is humanitarian diplomacy. The findings of this paper are that Indonesia responded to the crisis by coordinating with Bangladesh after holding a dialogue with the Myanmar government to open up humanitarian space. Furthermore, the establishment of AKIM shows that the response of the Indonesian government was also encouraged by Islamic groups in Indonesia. Indonesia's success is due to Indonesia's good track record of Myanmar. Keywords: AKIM, humanitarian diplomacy, Indonesia, Myanmar, Rohingya 1 Inda Mustika Permata, Nadya Hijrah D. Anita A. Sinulingga, Humanitarian Diplomacy: Indonesia’s Response Toward Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis Journal of Diplomacy and International Studies https://journal.uir.ac.id/index.php/jdis/index A. Introduction The abolition of Rohingya ethnic citizenship by the Myanmar Government has led to discrimination for these ethnicities. As a result, the Rohingya are categorized as stateless so the Myanmar Government is not responsible for the safety of the Rohingya people. Another impact felt by the Rohingya is the difficulty of accessing basic rights and services that exist in the community (Ullah, 2016). Besides, the ethnic Rohingya who embraced Islam among Myanmar's predominantly Buddhist communities generated friction which led to conflict. Although according to S. Wolf that the root of this conflict is not only due to religious aspects but also due to political and economic aspects. According to him, from the political aspect, the fear of Rohingya ethnic will separate themselves if they get rights and citizenship like other ethnicities. Furthermore, from an economic aspect, the government feels there is an economic burden to be borne related to safety and welfare if the Rohingya are recognized as citizens (Singh, 2014). The increase in violence against the Rohingya in 2012 was signed by a statement by President Thein Shein about the emergency at Rakhine (BBC, 2012). Responding to this, Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN Secretary-General, proposed that ASEAN, the Government of Myanmar, and the United Nations hold a dialogue so that violence does not spread. Unfortunately, this proposal refused by Myanmar (Aljazeera, 2017). At that time, Indonesia P-ISSN: 2656-3878 E-ISSN 2656-8713 had already shown its concern for Rohingya by providing a place for Rohingya refugees in Aceh because of pressure from Islamic groups in Indonesia (Zaidi and Baihaqie, 2017). However, these groups still operate individually. Conflict in Rakhine continues to occur until 2017 on a larger scale. This conflict killed 1,000 people and 270,000 fled Rakhine (CNN, 2017). Myanmar not only closed itself to dialogue but also in channeling aid to the Rohingya ethnic group. At that time, ASEAN did not react, because it was hampered by the principle of non-intervention (BBC, 2017). Not to mention, the Myanmar government refused the arrival of the UN Fact-Finding Team and accused the UN of assisting terrorists, because the United Nations continues to urge Aung San Suu Kyi to reveal the truth by allowing the FactFinding Team to investigate the matter at Rakhine (Kompas.com, 2017). The deteriorating conditions in Rakhine, prompting the public to urge the Government of Indonesia to respond to the crisis that occurred. So, on September 3, 2017, President Jokowi sent Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi regarding the opening of the humanitarian space. Based on these facts, this paper contributes to explain the actions of a country to open up humanitarian space through humanitarian diplomacy efforts. B. Methods The method used in this paper is a qualitative method. The data used are secondary data derived from journals, 2 Inda Mustika Permata, Nadya Hijrah D. Anita A. Sinulingga, Humanitarian Diplomacy: Indonesia’s Response Toward Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis Journal of Diplomacy and International Studies https://journal.uir.ac.id/index.php/jdis/index books, online news portals such as BBC, CNN, Kompas.com, and Tempo.Co, then the official government website, namely the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Keywords used to collect data are Indonesia's foreign policy, the Rohingya crisis, Myanmar's response, Indonesian humanitarian diplomacy. Based on these keywords, data will be collected. Next, the data will be analyzed using the conceptual framework of humanitarian diplomacy. According to Regnier, a humanitarian diplomacy is a form of effort made by humanitarian workers to be allowed to get access to victims at any time (Regnier, 2011). In addition, according to Whitall, humanitarian diplomacy is the use of international law and humanitarian action as a tool to facilitate the delivery of aid and promote the protection of civilians in emergency and complex situations (Whitall, 2009). According to Pease, humanitarian diplomacy is a process of negotiation, negotiation, and advocacy aimed at protecting human rights and humanitarian principles (Pease, 2016). Therefore, it can be concluded that humanitarian diplomacy is an act to open humanitarian space through negotiations in assisting vulnerable people. The humanitarian space is a space for freedom to assess needs, free to monitor the distribution of aid and dialogue with victims of conflict (Wagner, 2005). In the process, humanitarian diplomacy can occur in multiple ways, because the state is not the only actor, NGOs and IGO can be involved and have the same goals (Pease, 2016). The goal is P-ISSN: 2656-3878 E-ISSN 2656-8713 to open a humanitarian space, namely a space for freedom to evaluate needs, monitor the distribut (...truncated)