At least 24 people were killed and 150 others injured in a fire at the Zabeer International Hotel in Jashore, Bangladesh, on Monday (Aug. 5). The hotel was set on fire by protesters demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been in power for 15 years. Hasina resigned and fled to India on Monday afternoon after thousands of protesters approached her private residence.
Among the victims who died in the hotel fire was an Indonesian citizen. Director of Indonesian Citizen Protection and Legal Aid, Judha Nugraha, in a press statement in Jakarta said the Indonesian citizen with the initials DU had just arrived in Bangladesh on August 1 for a business visit.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he added, has contacted DU's family in Indonesia to convey condolences and will facilitate the repatriation of the body, in collaboration with the company where the deceased worked.
“The Indonesian Embassy in Dhaka received information from local authorities regarding an Indonesian citizen with the initials DU, aged 50, who died as a result of the riots in Dhaka,” he explained.
Currently, the Indonesian Embassy (KBRI) Dhaka has increased the emergency status from Alert III to Alert II. To increase awareness, all Indonesian citizens in Bangladesh are asked to reduce outdoor activities for non-essential matters, and avoid crowds and demonstration locations. Meanwhile, Indonesian citizens who plan to go to Bangladesh are asked to postpone their plans until the security situation is under control.
Judha expressed the hope that all 577 Indonesian citizens in Bangladesh would open communication with the authorities and follow the contingency steps set by the Indonesian Embassy in Dhaka. The majority of Indonesian citizens in Bangladesh are married to local citizens.
The Indonesian Embassy in Dhaka has prepared a safe house or safe house which Indonesian citizens can access if the situation worsens, added Judha.
Indonesia Asked to Be Firm Against Bangladesh
A number of civil society organizations and individuals under the Alliance of Communities and Democracy Actions for Bangladesh (ACAB) held a solidarity action in front of the Bangladesh Embassy in Jakarta.
Julius Ibrani, Chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), one of the institutions that participated in the action, asked the Indonesian government to take a firm stance against the Bangladeshi government.
“This is a humanitarian issue. There are diplomatic relations with Bangladesh. If Bangladesh is in a situation where the government of an authoritarian and tyrannical regime attacks civilians, commits serious human rights violations systematically and structurally, then it is important for the government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to declare a firm stance, to carry out persona nongrata or dishonorably repatriate diplomats from Bangladesh in Indonesia,” he said.
Job Quota System Sparks Protests
The unrest in Bangladesh began with demonstrations by thousands of students at the University of Dhaka, the country's largest university. The protests began last month when students demanded an end to a quota system that reserves 30 percent of government jobs for families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
As the violence escalated, the country’s Supreme Court reduced the quota system to 5 percent, with 3 percent going to veterans’ families. But protests continued demanding accountability for the violence, which the government said was excessive use of force.
The quota system also includes quotas for members of ethnic minorities, as well as people with disabilities and transgender people, which were cut from 26 percent to 2 percent in the decree.
Feeling their demands had fallen on deaf ears, the protesters called on all citizens not to pay taxes and electricity bills, and not to go to work on Sunday, which is a working day in Bangladesh. Offices and public facilities remained open, but citizens found it difficult to travel due to the disruption of public transportation.
Unrest has been looming since Sunday when angry protesters blocked major highways in Dhaka, attacked homes and vandalized public welfare offices in an area where hundreds of ruling party activists are based.
At least 11,000 people have been arrested in recent weeks.
Hasina's government has blamed the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the now-banned right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami party and their student wings for inciting the violence, in which several state-owned enterprises were also burned or vandalized.
Following Hasina's resignation, Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman said he would form an interim government in the country of 170 million people. (fw/em)
