According to the UNHCR, approximately 740,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar’s Rakhine State after a brutal military operation in 2017 that included killings, mass rapes, and the burning of villages. An international tribunal is now assessing whether these crimes constitute genocide, while repatriation efforts have failed due to the lack of guarantees of safety. To this day, the Rohingya remain stateless and face widespread discrimination in Myanmar.
Most Rohingya refugees live in camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, including Kutupalong, the largest refugee camp in the world. The Rohingya refugees are forced to live in a crowded place, prone to disasters, with limited access to social welfare services. Yearning for a better life, many choose to surrender their lives to the mercy of smugglers, who took them on perilous voyages across the Bay of Bengal and through the Andaman Sea, trying to reach the Muslim-majority countries of Malaysia or Indonesia.
Since November 2023, Aceh has seen an influx of Rohingya refugees who have taken the dangerous sea route from Cox’s Bazar to Malaysia. Due to inadequate boat quality, interceptions, and sea currents, most of these boats were swept to the coast of Aceh where they later became stranded.
In February 2025, four official shelters in Lhokseumawe, East Aceh, Kulee Pidie, and Mina Raya Pidie were housing 1,048 refugees. This number perpetually fluctuates due to fleeing or relocated individuals.
Rohingya refugees’ presence sparked a response of rejection. In 2023, demonstrations took place in various cities in Aceh demanding the expulsion of Rohingya refugees. Fortunately, after two years of presence, the harsh expression of rejection had subsided by June 2025. Now, many members of the refugees have appeared to integrate into the local community.
Sadly, a gaping legal hole is threatening to disrupt these hard-earned safety. Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. Consequently, Rohingya refugees in Indonesia live in legal limbo, lacking legal status that would allow them to work, access formal education, or relocate to a third country without a lengthy and complex bureaucracy.
Separated from their roots and loved ones, refugees rely heavily on telecommunication technology for their daily activity. They use their phones to study, find informal online work, and to voice their plight to the world.
For the refugees, mobile phones are more than just a communication tool. It has become a multifaceted space: a family room, a school, an information station, and a platform for resistance all in one hand. Some refugees even learn Indonesian and English through online apps. Others are following international news broadcasts to keep up with their fates.
Obaidurrahman showed me a message he had written with plans for the future. He wants to be a teacher. “I want to teach the children of my community so they don’t continue living in darkness,” he said.