INDONESIAN authorities have detected at least five boats packed with refugees approaching the shores of Aceh province, officials said today.

The boats are the latest in a surge of vessels that have arrived in Aceh, most carrying Rohingya refugees from southern Bangladesh, to which the persecuted Muslim minority fled in 2017 following attacks by the military in their homeland of Myanmar.

Indonesia has intensified patrols of its waters following a sharp rise in Rohingya refugees arriving since November, said Aceh’s air force base commander Colonel Yoyon Kuscahyono. 

He said air patrols on Wednesday had detected at least five boats entering Indonesian waters, probably carrying Rohingya refugees.

They were spotted entering the regencies of Lhokseumawe, East Aceh, Pidie, Aceh Besar and Sabang in the north of Aceh province.

Muslims comprise nearly 90 per cent of Indonesia’s 277 million people, and Indonesia once tolerated such landings while Thailand and Malaysia pushed them away. 

But there has been a surge of anti-Rohingya sentiment this year, especially in Aceh, on the northern part of the island of Sumatra, where most end up landing. 

With pressure growing on President Joko Widodo’s government to take action, he said that Indonesia would still help the refugees temporarily on a humanitarian basis.