The Refugees Vanish: Rohingya Movement, Emergency’s Temporality and Violence of the Indonesian Humanitarian Border

Abstract

This chapter calls for more sustained attention to Rohingya movement as an ontological activity that has largely been observed in episodic manner. Subsumed into the limited temporality of emergency, Indonesia’s response to Rohingya boat people has led to an emergent humanitarian border, from which refugees are escaping. Drawing on local media reports, the analysis problematises the recurring arrivals/subsequent disappearances of Rohingya refugees from Aceh (2015–2021), and examines the material and ideational configurations of the violent border assemblage as it becomes entrenched through current regulation. While Indonesia appears to shift closer to international refugee protection norms, the repetition of its bordering practices against the Rohingya raises questions about rescue, and how it potentially entails delimitation of refugee’s futures.