Video shows a spectacular lightning storm during an eruption on Indonesia’s Mount Ruang volcano. Hundreds of people have been evacuated from the area.
Published On 18 Apr 2024
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Tag: indonesia
11,000 evacuated in northern Indonesia as Ruang volcano erupts | Volcanoes News
Authorities further extend exclusion zone after volcano sends ash and smoke more than two kilometres into the sky.
Some 11,000 people have been evacuated from around the Ruang volcano in northern Indonesia amid fears it could collapse causing a tsunami after erupting multiple times.
Mount Ruang, located in in North Sulawesi Province, first erupted at 9:45pm (13:45 GMT) on Tuesday sending billowing clouds of smoke and ash high into the sky.
After four more eruptions on Wednesday, Indonesia’s volcanology agency raised the alert level for the 725-metre (2,379-foot) high mountain to four, the highest on the scale.
They also widened the exclusion zone around the crater from four kilometres (2.5 miles) to six kilometres (3.7 miles).
More than 800 people were evacuated initially from Ruang to nearby Tagulandang Island, which is located more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of the provincial capital, Manado.
But officials said later that everyone on Tagulandang would also need to be evacuated as a result of the widening exclusion zone, and would be taken to Manado.
Officials also worry that part of the volcano could collapse into the sea and cause a tsunami as it did during a previous eruption in 1871.
Video footage showed flows of red lava streaming down the mountain, reflected in the waters below, and billowing clouds of grey ash above Ruang’s crater.
Muhammad Wafid, the head of Indonesia’s geological agency, earlier said Ruang’s initial eruption sent an ash column two kilometres (1.2 miles) into the sky, with the second eruption pushing it to 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles).
The volcanology agency said volcanic activity had increased at Ruang after two earthquakes in recent weeks.
Indonesia, which sits along the ‘Ring of Fire’, a horseshoe-shaped series of tectonic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean, has 120 active volcanoes.
In 2018, the eruption of Indonesia’s Anak Krakatoa volcano triggered a tsunami along the coasts of Sumatra and Java after parts of the mountain fell into the ocean. Hundreds of people were killed.
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Several killed after landslides hit Indonesia’s Sulawesi island | Environment News
Emergency response efforts have been complicated by poor weather conditions and damaged roads brought about by the disaster.
At least 15 people have been found dead and two others missing after landslides hit central Indonesia, say the local authorities.
At least 17 victims were evacuated from the landslides that hit Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi province on Saturday evening, local disaster agency head Sulaiman Maila said on Sunday.
“Two of them survived while 15 others sadly passed away,” Maila told the AFP news agency.
“According to reports from residents, there are still two individuals reported missing, presumably buried under the landslide debris,” he said, adding that rescue efforts were ongoing.
Tana Toraja and its surrounding areas have been experiencing heavy rainfall for the past week, he added.
The landslides, triggered by heavy rains, affected two villages in the region and destroyed four homes, Abdul Muhari, the spokesperson for the country’s disaster mitigation agency, said in a statement.
The affected areas are hilly and difficult for rescuers to reach. Photos provided by officials showed rescuers trawling through the rubble for survivors, with homes reduced to planks of wood and concrete.
According to local police chief Gunardi Mundu, mud fell from surrounding hills onto four houses in Tana Toraja just before midnight on Saturday, burying parts of the village. He said a family gathering was being held in one of the houses when the disaster hit.
Indonesia’s rainy season began in January, with the meteorological agency forecasting a peak within the first quarter of 2024.
Poor weather conditions and damage to roads in the affected areas complicated emergency response efforts, making it difficult for vehicles to evacuate victims, the disaster mitigation agency’s spokesperson said.
Indonesia’s Tempo newspaper said the rescuers urgently needed heavy equipment to help clear roads for ambulances to evacuate the victims.
Located in the centre of Sulawesi island, the mountainous region of Tana Toraja is about 300km (186 miles) from the provincial capital, Makassar.
Last month, floods and landslides killed at least 26 people on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, with torrential rains destroying hundreds of homes, and displacing thousands.
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‘Accepted in both [worlds]’: Indonesia’s Chinese Muslims prepare for Eid | Religion News
![‘Accepted in both [worlds]’: Indonesia’s Chinese Muslims prepare for Eid | Religion News](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Maria-Leoni-right-1712558882.jpeg?resize=1200,675)
Jakarta, Indonesia – Millions of Muslims across Indonesia, including some of its ethnic Chinese minority, are preparing for Lebaran, as Indonesians call Eid, the festival that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
About 87 percent of Indonesia’s more than 270 million people are Muslim and while most of the nearly 3 million ethnic Chinese – according to its 2010 census – are Buddhist or Christian, others have become Muslim.
Muslims around the world are expected to mark Eid on April 10 this year.
Johanes Herlijanto, the co-founder and chairman of the Indonesian Sinology Forum (FSI), said estimating the number of Chinese Indonesian Muslims was “very difficult” as “the number of ethnic Chinese people as a whole was still a matter of debate”, referring to the differing figures between experts.
Johanes said they were “a diverse community” with varying commitments to their religion.
“We will find people who practise religion strictly, for example, wearing Islamic clothing. There are even religious leaders among them,” he said.
“We will also find people who do not really emphasise their religious identity, so they are not too different from ethnic Chinese society in general.”
Agni Malagina, an independent researcher focusing on the Chinese Indonesian community, said people suspected Chinese who became Muslim often let go of their cultural identity, but she said that was not necessarily true.
“Many still know their roots and do not hesitate to admit their Chinese identity,” she told Al Jazeera.
Agni, who previously taught sinology at Universitas Indonesia, said the community’s acculturation process was “dynamic” and that interethnic marriage was “the most common” way Chinese became Muslim, although Indonesia’s marriage law does not explicitly require non-Muslims to convert to get married.
She cited lontong opor ayam (braised chicken in coconut milk served with rice cake) as an example of Chinese and Indonesian Muslim cultural fusion. The food is served during Lebaran.
“[Chinese Muslim families] respect each other by serving halal dishes,” she added.
But Johanes of FSI said he also heard how some Chinese families discriminated against those who “decided to convert to Islam”.
“Whatever the initial motivation for embracing Islam, their unique identity and their efforts to build a space for intercultural interaction… could be considered successful,” he told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera spoke to three Chinese Indonesians who are Muslim about their cultural identity.
Maria Leoni, 36
Maria Leoni lives in a village in Jepara, Indonesia’s Central Java province, and runs an ikat cloth business – under the KAINRATU brand – with her husband.
Once a Christian, Leoni converted to Islam when she was 17 after becoming fascinated by the mosques and hearing the Islamic adhan or call to prayer.
“I was happy hearing the adhan at sunset. I was in front of the television [waiting for adhan]. Perhaps it was already meant to be this way [for me to be Muslim],” she said, wondering “why it sounded pleasant”.
The mother of three, whose parents died when she was in primary school, lived with her late mother’s family. However, when she began wearing the hijab, they told her to leave and she went to live in an orphanage.
Leoni has since deepened her understanding of Islam and went to Saudi Arabia for the umrah in 2019. She is also a member of the Indonesian Chinese Muslim Association.
The 36-year-old has celebrated Ramadan with her family for many years and sees food as a way to bring people together. She enjoys cooking the Chinese Indonesian stir-fried vegetable dish capcai, while her husband likes Javanese-style fried chicken marinated with various spices.
Leoni and her family will visit her husband’s relatives and neighbours’ homes during Lebaran.
“I am proud, even though I am a minority. Proud to be a Muslim, to be a Chinese,” she told Al Jazeera.
Sandra Insana Sari, 28
Sandra Insana Sari works as a freelance master of ceremony and moderator.
She lives in Tangerang, near Jakarta.
Sandra’s ethnic Chinese father converted to Islam from Confucianism after getting to know her mother, who is Sundanese, one of Indonesia’s largest ethnic groups.
From kindergarten to primary school, Sandra remembers being racially taunted as Chinese by fellow children – so much so she told people she was Sundanese when they asked.
As she got older, however, the former producer for national television found her mixed background was useful.
“Building relationships would be easier if we were based on similarities,” she said.
“Communication would be closer if we had something in common.”
The 28-year-old says her non-Muslim ethnic Chinese extended family would often break fast with her during Ramadan and invite her to their homes to celebrate Lebaran.
Her hosts would serve nastar (bite-sized pineapple tarts that are popular during festive seasons in Indonesia) and other snacks. When visiting their homes, they also prepared her halal dishes.
“I am accepted as Chinese, I am accepted as Muslim,” she told Al Jazeera. “Accepted in both [worlds].”
Olivia ‘Oliv’ Javina, 20
Originally from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, Olivia ‘Oliv’ Javina moved to Lasem in Central Java in 2015.
The 20-year-old works in digital marketing for her family’s business in Lasem-style hand-drawn batik cloth, which was started by her late grandfather Sigit Witjaksono.
Sigit, a prominent Chinese Indonesian, converted to Islam from Confucianism in 2018; he died three years later.
Lasem is known as the “Town of Santri”, meaning students of pesantren or Islamic boarding schools.
Oliv was one of them.
Before breaking her fast, Oliv tunes into YouTube to listen to fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and other Islamic texts.
She then shares takjil – light snacks with which Muslims break their fast at sunset – such as lemper (savoury glutinous rice with meat filling) with her non-Muslim relatives.
Lasem is also called “Little China” – in part because it is believed to be one of the places where Chinese migrants first arrived in Java.
For Lebaran, Oliv and her extended family – some of them Catholics and some Confucians – will gather together in Lasem.
“What I am most proud of [in Lasem] is [its] tolerance,” she told Al Jazeera.
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Thousands around the world rally for Palestinians on Al-Quds Day | Gaza News
Tens of thousands of people across the world have staged rallies to mark Al-Quds Day (or simply, Quds Day), an international day expressing support for Palestine and opposition to the ongoing Israeli occupation.
The annual day of solidarity falls on the last Friday of Ramadan. People gathered in Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iraq and Lebanon, among many other countries.
This year, demonstrations took on a special urgency as anger spilled over across the Muslim world because of Israel’s war on Gaza that has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians in six months.
Tel Aviv has ignored calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Men, women and children with placards supporting Palestine attended rallies held after Friday prayers.
Many held banners saying “Down with Israel” written on them, while others burned American and Israeli flags.
The US administration has indicated that it does not plan to restrict or condition military aid to Israel. However, US President Joe Biden has said publicly that Israel has not done enough to protect civilians throughout the course of the continuing offensive in Gaza.
The head of Lebanon’s powerful group Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, gave a televised address to mark Al-Quds Day.
In Iran, state television showed top government, judiciary and military officials, including President Ebrahim Raisi and Quds Force leader Esmail Qaani, walking among demonstrators in Tehran and cities across the country.
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At Indonesia’s biggest bank, customers’ life savings vanish with a click | Business and Economy
Bali and Jakarta, Indonesia – Late last year, Balinese woman Nih Lu Putu Rustini got the shock of her life when she tried to withdraw cash from an ATM to complete a renovation project at her ancestral home.
Working as a cleaner during the day and a nanny by night, Rustini had saved 37 million Indonesian rupiahs ($2,340) in an account at Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Indonesia’s largest bank.
But the ATM showed a balance of almost zero.
When she visited her local BRI branch, a teller informed her that her money was gone.
“They said a hacker had stolen my money and they could not return it to me,” Rustini told Al Jazeera.
“It’s not fair because it took me a long time to earn that money but the hackers took it in seconds. I was shocked.”
I Made Rai Dwi Ada Diatmika, a leather goods manufacturer in Bali, had a similar experience last August when he tried to make his first withdrawal in years.
A hacker had cleared out his savings of 72 million rupiahs ($4,650) the previous May.
As in Rustini’s case, BRI refused to accept responsibility for the loss.
“When I opened the account at BRI three years ago, they asked me to download their app onto my phone. They said it was safer because I would get daily reports. But I never used it as I forgot the password,” Diatmika told Al Jazeera.
“We put our money in the bank for security. But if hackers can get in so easily and find all our data, BRI must have a big problem with their security.”
Rustini and Diatmika are among numerous BRI customers whose savings were stolen by hackers via the bank’s mobile app.
As Southeast Asia’s largest economy, with the fourth-highest number of internet users and the fifth-largest e-commerce sector in the world, Indonesia is an attractive target for cybercriminals.
Data published by Indonesia’s National Cyber and Encryption Agency shows there were 361 million online traffic anomalies between January 1 and October 26 in the country last year.
Attacks on email accounts in Indonesia rose by 85 percent in the third quarter of 2023, even as breaches in countries such as the US and Russia declined, according to data collected by Netherlands-based cybersecurity firm Surfshark.
Meanwhile, Indonesia ranks third from last among G20 countries for preventing and managing cyber threats, according to Estonia’s National Cyber Security Index.
“There’s a lot of information out there indicating Indonesia is one the world’s largest sources and targets for cybercrime,” Gatra Priyandita, an analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Cyber Policy Centre in Sydney, told Al Jazeera.
“Indonesians are more vulnerable in a way because of their poor digital hygiene. They are becoming more aware of the problem but when you have 200 million people suddenly jumping online, they will always be more vulnerable.”
Government websites are the number one target of cyberhackers in Indonesia, followed by the energy and financial sectors, according to the Mandiant M-Trends 2023 survey.
“Banks are targets because banks are where the money is,” BRI’s head of information Muharto, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, said at a forum in Jakarta in June.
“Cybercriminals are now collaborating with each other and operating as a group with combined capabilities,” he said, adding: “Banks cannot fight cybercrime alone and must synergise [their efforts] with the government and regulators.”
BRI does not publicly share data on how many of its customers’ accounts have been hacked and did not respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.
However, the bank claims it has “taken steps to fight cybercrime” as “a pillar” of its mission, citing its work with the police and investments in cutting-edge cybersecurity software sold by companies like Elastic Security in the US.
“Its features and capabilities on top of our data make it the perfect fit for our operational needs,” Tri Danarto, BRI’s security operation department head, was quoted as saying in a news release last year.
In February of last year, BRI permanently closed the website version of its e-banking services and diverted all online transactions to its new mobile banking app BRImo, claiming it was “safer” and “easier for customers to access”.
BRI also maintains that it strives to educate customers about the dangers of installing mystery apps and opening suspicious links and emails.
In July, a BRI customer in the city of Malang in East Java reported that she had 1.4 billion rupiahs ($90,330) stolen from her account, which the bank discovered she had enabled by clicking on a fake wedding invitation sent on WhatsApp.
“This incident occurred because the victim had leaked personal and secret banking transaction data to irresponsible parties,” BRI Malang branch manager Sutoyo Akhmad Fajar said in a statement at the time, adding that while the bank sympathised with the victim, it could only pay compensation when at fault.
Ardi Sutedja Kartawidjaya, chairperson of the Indonesian Cyber Security Forum in Jakarta, said that in “90 percent of cyberattacks against bank accounts, the fault lies within the customer because of their negligence and fraud schemes that are becoming more and more sophisticated”.
But if it can be proven that the victim did not enable the breach, the missing funds can be replaced under the Indonesian government’s deposit guarantee scheme.
“First the victim must file a police report, who are required to investigate according to the Personal Data Protection Law of 2022. But bear in mind that this process takes quite some time as it requires complex forensic digital investigative skills,” Kartawidjaya told Al Jazeera.
ASPI’s Priyandita said that Indonesian authorities’ capacity to investigate such crimes is limited due to a limited number of digital forensics specialists.
“The National Cyber and Encryption Agency had its budget cut from 2 trillion [rupiahs] in 2019 to 100 billion [rupiahs] during the pandemic – a time when arguably more funding was needed. The budget is now 600 billion [rupiahs], but it still isn’t enough,” he said.
In Bali, cybercrime victim Diatmika has experienced the problem of under-resourcing firsthand.
“I provided the police with all the details, including the name and account number of the person in Java who stole my money. But they said they didn’t have any budget to travel to Java and investigate, and that if I wanted a refund, I had to fight the bank. But to do that I needed a lawyer. I have no more money, so I was forced to give up,” he said.
Like Diatmika, Rustini, who insists she did not download any suspicious apps or clink on suspect links, initially did not intend on fighting BRI, considering the cost of hiring a lawyer to be out of reach.
But after Balinese law firm Malekat Hukum offered to represent her pro-bono, she filed a complaint with the police.
In addition to filing a suit against BRI, Malekat Hukum has lodged a case with Indonesia’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Institution in the hope of settling the matter through mediation.
BRI has so far failed to respond to requests for mediation.
Ni Luh Arie Ratna Sukasari, a partner with Malekat Hukum, said Rustini’s losses are the tip of the iceberg at BRI.
“BRI Bank is notorious for cyberattacks. I have heard of many passing cases where their customers lost everything, and we need to do something about it,” she told Al Jazeera.
“They’re supposed to be serving their customers and protecting their customers’ money. Their argument that they are not responsible just doesn’t stand. They’re the ones who need better security, not their customers. And if they cannot offer secure online banking, they shouldn’t be offering it – period.”
Diatmika said he knows other BRI customers who have been similarly scammed.
“There was a man who lived only three minutes from my house. He had a stroke and died after 1 billion rupiahs [$64,500] was stolen from his account. His family had to sell their house,” he said.
Cybersecurity expert Kartawidjaya said the phenomenon is not unique to BRI.
“Almost all financial service providers in Indonesia are experiencing constant cyberattacks. But most don’t report such events for reputation management reasons,” he said.
Priyandita said he fears that cybersecurity in the country will get worse before it improves.
“Indonesia is banking on digital technology as a key driver of growth, but cyber security is simply not the priority it should be,” he said.
“Efforts are being made to respond to the problem, but again these are limited by resourcing.”
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Conflict, climate, corruption drive Southeast Asia people trafficking: UN | Human Trafficking News
Latest report comes amid a surge in mostly Muslim Rohingya making dangerous sea journeys in search of safety.
Conflict, climate and the demand for low-paid labour in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, with corruption as a “major enabler”, are driving the growth of the people smuggling trade in Southeast Asia, according to a new report from the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Tens of thousands of people from Myanmar as well as from other parts of Southeast Asia and from outside the region are smuggled to, through and from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand every year, the UNODC said in its report Migrant Smuggling in Southeast Asia, which was published on Tuesday.
The report identified three key trends in people smuggling: the demand for workers willing to take on low-wage jobs and the limited channels available for people to fill these jobs legally; the existence of “substantial populations” of people in need of international protection but also with few legal ways to reach safety; and the prevalence of corruption among some public officials.
The report noted that such corruption acted as a “driver and enabler of migrant smuggling, as well as contributing to impunity for perpetrators. Public officials share smuggling profits; are bribed to ensure compliance; and obstruct criminal investigations.”
The UNODC surveyed some 4,785 migrants and refugees in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand for the report, with 83 percent of them saying they were smuggled. An additional 60 migrants and refugees also took part in in-depth qualitative interviews, while 35 key informants were interviewed.
One in four of those smuggled said they had experienced corruption and been forced to bribe officials including immigration officers, police and the military. The UNODC noted that corruption also fed the smuggling trade, because those making the journey felt they needed the smugglers to deal with state authorities, because of the corruption.
Many of those fleeing conflict were from Myanmar, including the mostly Muslim Rohingya, hundreds of thousands of whom fled into neighbouring Bangladesh when the military began a brutal crackdown in 2017, which is now being investigated as genocide.
The report comes amid a surge in the number of Rohingya people risking dangerous sea journeys from Bangladesh and Myanmar in the hope of reaching safety in Southeast Asia.
On Monday, Indonesia ended the search for a boat thought to be carrying about 150 people that capsized off the coast of the northern province of Aceh, tossing dozens of people into the sea. Some 69 people were rescued and three bodies recovered.
The UNODC also found that abuse was rife, with three-quarters of those surveyed saying they had experienced some form of abuse during their journey from the smugglers themselves, the military and police, or criminal gangs. Physical violence was the most reported type of abuse.
In 2015, Thailand and Malaysia discovered mass graves at more than two dozen trafficking camps hidden in the jungle on the Malaysian side of the border at Wang Kelian. Police found 139 graves as well as signs that those held there had been tortured.
Thailand and Malaysia carried out a joint investigation into the camps and Thailand convicted 62 defendants, including nine government officials, over the deaths and trafficking of Rohingya and Bangladeshis to Malaysia via Thailand two years later.
Last June, Malaysia charged four Thai nationals over the camps after they were extradited from Bangkok.
An earlier inquiry found that no Malaysian enforcement officials, public servants or local citizens were involved in trafficking syndicates, but there was “gross negligence” on the part of border patrols who had failed to notice the camps.
As well as conflict and work, the UNODC said climate change had emerged as a factor in people smuggling to Southeast Asia.
The report said one in four of those surveyed had said they felt compelled to migrate because of more extreme weather events including heat waves and flooding, including three out of four Bangladeshis surveyed.
The report found the average price paid to be smuggled to Southeast Asia was $2,380 with men paying slightly more than women.
Afghans being smuggled to Malaysia and Indonesia paid the most – $6,004.
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Bodies of three Rohingya found as Indonesia ends rescue for capsized boat | Rohingya News
Local authorities in Aceh province have received several reports about dead bodies floating in nearby waters since Saturday.
The bodies of three Rohingya refugees have been found in open waters off Indonesia’s Aceh province, says the provincial search-and-rescue agency as authorities end a search for survivors from a capsized boat.
The wooden boat with an estimated 151 people on board capsized some 19km (12 miles) from the beach of Kuala Bubon on the west coast of Aceh on Wednesday morning. Fishers and a search-and-rescue team rescued 75 people from the boat by Thursday – 44 men, 22 women and nine children – after they huddled on its overturned hull throughout the night.
However, more than 70 Rohingya were “presumed dead or missing”, which if confirmed would be the biggest loss of life in such an incident so far this year, the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.
“After we searched the area, the team found three bodies, two adult women and one boy. They are allegedly Rohingya refugees who were the passengers of the capsized and sunken boat,” Al Hussain, chief of Banda Aceh Search and Rescue Agency, said in a statement on Sunday.
Fishers first spotted the three bodies and reported them to local authorities on Saturday. The bodies were taken to the hospital in Calang city in Aceh Jaya district before local authorities buried them.
Officials of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said survivors had confirmed the deceased refugees were on the capsized boat.
“We have verified … we [took] one of the refugees to identify and verify that they were together on the boat,” Faisal Rahman of UNHCR in Aceh said on Saturday.
Local authorities in Aceh have received several reports about dead bodies floating in nearby waters since Saturday. Most of those presumed to have died – mainly women and children – were likely unable to swim, and were carried out to sea by the currents.
The predominately Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar faces widespread discrimination, and most are denied citizenship. About one million of them fled to Bangladesh – including about 740,000 in 2017 – as refugees to escape a brutal campaign by Myanmar’s security forces, who were accused of committing mass rapes and killings and burning thousands of homes.
In recent years, many Rohingya have been fleeing overcrowded camps in Bangladesh to embark on dangerous sea journeys on rickety boats to reach Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia in search of a better future. Many have drowned on the way. The 2023 toll of at least 569 Rohingya dead or missing while trying to flee Myanmar or Bangladesh was the highest since 2014, the UNHCR said in January.
Indonesia, like Thailand and Malaysia, is not a signatory to the UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention, and so is not obligated to accept them. However, it generally provides temporary shelter to refugees in distress. More than 2,300 Rohingya arrived in Indonesia last year, UNHCR data showed, surpassing the number of arrivals in the previous four years combined.
However, resistance to the Rohingya has grown in Indonesia, where some allege, without evidence, that the refugees receive more resources from aid agencies than residents and that they engage in criminal activity. Locals have protested for authorities to turn back Rohingya arriving on boats.
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Photos: Desperate, dehydrated Rohingyas picked up in dramatic sea rescue | Rohingya News
As the skipper of an Indonesian search-and-rescue vessel scoured the sea early on Thursday, a dot appeared on the horizon – dozens of Rohingya refugees drifting on the rusty hull of their overturned ship poking out of the water.
Against the ocean expanse were men, women and children trying to escape Bangladeshi camps filled with poverty, crime and a lack of hope to reach the shores of Indonesia or, eventually, Malaysia for a better life.
Under the beating sun, a rescuer had seen one of the men desperately waving a red shirt through his binoculars, hailing the ship in the direction of the group whose boat capsized on Wednesday, with dozens feared to have been swept away.
The group was standing on their makeshift metal buoy because there was not enough room for them all to sit with more than half of it submerged by the sea, AFP footage from the rescue boat showed.
But the arrival of the rescuers had brought hope.
“The first thing I saw was a little girl, around five years old. A rescuer carried the girl. I looked at her feet and they were badly wrinkly, as if they had been submerged in water for a long time,” said an AFP journalist on board the rescue ship.
“She looked so weak and dehydrated, but her face seemed hopeful again.”
As the rescue boat approached them, a group of men and children stood together, water tumbling around their legs as the rescuers tied a rope to the hull to keep their dinghy close.
Some men panicked and tried to jump into the inflatable rescue boat, having to be calmed down by their peers and the rescuers.
Others then made sure to let the children stranded on the hull board the rescue boat first.
As the rescuers negotiated who they should first take back to a larger ship, some of the men had to be dragged on to rescue dinghies, with no energy left in their arms.
Others looked on patiently as they waited for their turns to be rescued. Many had no shirts on their backs despite the scorching temperatures.
The 69 successfully reached land in Aceh on Thursday afternoon, with most taken to a temporary shelter. Some were immediately taken to hospital.
Yet the status of those who accompanied them but were swept away when the boat capsized remains unknown.
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In Indonesia and Malaysia, boycotts hammer McDonald’s, Starbucks | Israel War on Gaza
Medan, Indonesia – Ordinarily during the holy month of Ramadan, entrepreneur Putra Kelana breaks fast with his family and friends at several different food outlets across his city in North Sumatra.
But this year, one outlet will not be on the menu: McDonald’s.
Kelana has been boycotting the fast food chain since October when McDonald’s Israel announced on social media that it had donated thousands of free meals to the Israeli military amid its war in Gaza.
“It is not so much an outright boycott, rather a feeling of being deeply unhappy with Israel,” Kelana told Al Jazeera.
“I used to have a McDonald’s sticker on my car which gave me discounts when I used the drive-through, but I ripped it off when the war started.”
“If I could go to Gaza to help fight against the Israeli forces, I would do it. Muslims are being killed by the Israelis every day. Because I can’t go there in person, the next best thing is to show my support by not using products affiliated with Israel.”
Kelana, who joined a Whatsapp group where members regularly post updated lists of products to avoid, has also stopped drinking Aqua bottled water following reports that French producer Danone invested in several Israeli companies and startups.
Across Southeast Asia, calls to boycott products perceived to have links to Israel are having a noticeable impact on the bottom lines of major brands.
In February, McDonald’s said that war was part of the reason international sales rose by just 0.7 percent during the fourth quarter of 2023, down sharply from a 16.5 percent expansion during the same period the previous year.
“The most pronounced impact that we’re seeing is in the Middle East and in Muslim countries like Indonesia and Malaysia,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said in an earnings call.
“So long as this conflict, this war is going on […] we’re not expecting to see any significant improvement.”
Other brands that have been affected by boycotts include Unilever and coffee chain Starbucks.
Unilever, which produces Dove soap, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Knorr stock cubes, said in February that sales in Indonesia had experienced a double-digit decline during the fourth quarter last year as a result of “geopolitically focused, consumer-facing campaigns”.
Isna Sari, a housewife in Medan, said she has made several changes to her weekly shopping list since the start of the war, including switching washing up liquid brand Sunlight, owned by Unilever, for local brand Mama Lemon.
“I have also started buying Ciptadent toothpaste instead of Pepsodent, which is also owned by Unilever,” she told Al Jazeera. “Not only do these products not support Israel but they are also cheaper.”
“My reason for making these changes is that I don’t want to give my money to any company that does not support Palestine.”
Despite being targeted over their purported ties to Israel, the companies taking a hit in many cases have tenuous links to the country.
While McDonald’s franchisees must pay a fee to the fast-food giant’s United States headquarters, most outlets, including those operated by McDonald’s Israel, are locally owned.
McDonald’s franchisees in many Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, have expressed support for Palestinians and pledged money to support relief efforts in Gaza.
Danone Indonesia, which operates 25 factories with 13,000 employees in Indonesia, has denied any “connection or involvement in political views” related to the war and last year announced that it had donated 13.3 billion Indonesian rupiahs ($846,000) in humanitarian aid for Palestinians.
Unilever Indonesia in November said that it was “sad and concerned” about the conflict and that its products were “made, distributed and sold by the people of Indonesia”.
Starbucks Indonesia, like other international branches of the brand, is owned by a local company, PT Sari Coffee Indonesia.
Nonetheless, brands’ efforts to distance themselves from the war continue to fall on deaf ears.
At a branch of Starbucks in Medan, an employee who wished to remain anonymous said that business during Ramadan had been slower than last year, despite promotions offering free drinks for breaking fast.
“This is the first year we have changed our opening hours during Ramadan from 10am to 12pm. We now close at 8pm instead of 10pm because business is so slow. We have never done that before,” the employee told Al Jazeera.
In Malaysia, Starbucks franchisee Berjaya Food reported a 38.2 percent drop in revenue in the fourth quarter of last year, which it “attributed to an ongoing boycott”.
In March, Berjaya’s founder, Vincent Tan, called for an end to the boycott, saying that Starbucks Malaysia is owned and staffed by Malaysians and that “in stores, 80 to 85 percent of employees are Muslims”.
“This boycott doesn’t benefit anyone,” Tan said.
McDonald’s Malaysia, owned by Gerbang Alaf Restaurants, last year filed a lawsuit against Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Malaysia accusing the movement of damaging its business by falsely linking it to Israel’s war in Gaza.
Back in Medan, Kelana said he misses McDonald’s Ramadan menu, which includes special promotions for breaking fast, including fried chicken in curry sauce, rice, sweet tea and ice cream.
Still, he is steadfast in his commitment not to give the food chain any money.
“It doesn’t have to be drastic, we just need to do what we can,” he said. “We can affect change through our families by choosing the things we buy, which can be difficult because we tend to buy products out of habit.”
“Who doesn’t like McDonald’s? Especially the special sauce. But we can live without it.”
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