Hotli Simanjuntak and Rizal Harahap, Banda Aceh, Pekanbaru – Fifty-five boat people allegedly escaping political unrest in Sri Lanka reportedly arrived at a beach in Babah Leung village, Banda Aceh, on Friday.
Storms and waves destroyed their wooden boat, which sunk en route to Christmas Island, Australia, according to the Aceh fishermen's association, Panglima Laot Aceh, which helped the displaced boatpeople. One asylum seeker is still missing after attempting to swim ashore.
"The driving licenses and ID cards they produced prove they are Sri Lankans," Panglima Laot Aceh secretary-general Adli Abdullah told The Jakarta Post Friday.
Of the 55 men, three of them spoke fluent English, an all arrived in stable health condition, Adli said. "It is likely they are well-educated Sri Lankans," he said.
According to one asylum seeker, Shuman May, the group departed Sri Lanka on May 2 with 150 passengers on board. They initially sailed on a Malaysian registered vessel, Happy New Star, paying US$1,370 each, he said. However, the ship operator transferred 56 of them to a 30-ton wooden boat, he said.
Shuman said the survivors were found by locals who then transferred them to a meeting hall in Babah Krueng village, Nagan Raya.
One aslyum seeker said they thought they had arrived on Christmas Island when they were beached, but pleaded with security officers not to be returned to their home country after learning they had arrived in Aceh instead. "They were even willing to be killed instead of being sent back to Sri Lanka," said Adli.
The Indonesian Navy and the Immigration Office in Meulaboh promptly collected information from the group, he said.
The Navy sent the 55 Sri Lankans to Alue Bilie district while waiting for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to pick them up for investigation, he said. This incident is the third in Aceh since early this year.
Separately, in Bangko Pusako district, Riau, Rokan Hilir Police caught 21 illegal Afghanistan immigrants – including one female – on a trans-Sumatra highway Thursday. This follows the arrest of 30 illegal Afghan immigrants two weeks ago in Riau.
Rokan Hilir police chief Adj. Sr. Com. Rohmad Nur Sahid said Friday the arrests were made in Pematang Ibul village, after their bus hit a motorcycle and caused the death of the motorcyclist.
"When (traffic police) officers stopped the bus, they noticed that many of the passengers were Middle Eastern. None of them produced identification when requested," he said. "(We wouldn't) have known about them if there had not been an accident," he said.
Rohmad said the immigrants, aged between 16 and 56 years old, admitted to arriving in Sumatra on an illegal boat from Malaysia. They used land transportation from Tanjung Balai to Rantau Prapat, Labuhan Ratu, and then took a bus heading to Jakarta from there.
"They said they wanted to go to a UNHCR representative (office) in Jakarta," he said. Quoting the immigrants, he said they left Afghanistan because of continuing warfare.