Indonesia Will Accommodate Rohingya Refugees: Vice President

Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan (Antara) -- Indonesia will accommodate the Rohingya refugees, who were stranded in the waters of the country last week, on humanitarian grounds, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said here on Monday. \"We are helping them on humanitarian grounds. Of course, we provided them with food at the shelter,\" he stated on the sidelines of his working visit to the South Kalimantan provincial capital of Banjarmasin. He added that Indonesia had once accommodated Vietnamese refugees in Galang Island in Riau Islands province. \"Don\'t forget that Indonesia had once accommodated the largest batch of Vietnamese refugees. We gave them shelter in Galang Island in cooperation with international agencies,\" he pointed out. If any other country is ready to receive the refugees, Indonesia will play a more active role in helping them, Kalla affirmed. \"That no other country is ready to receive the refugees is another problem,\" he remarked. The vice president further noted that the refugees who were stranded in Indonesian waters were supposed to travel to Malaysia and Australia. (*)