VIVAnews - The government has repatriated 406 troubled Indonesian Migrant Workers (TKI) in which 326 of them were working in Kuwait and the rest were from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The workers arrived in Indonesia, yesterday, November 10, on a Garuda Indonesia aircraft.
Out of 80 workers coming back from Saudi Arabia, there were 62 adults, five children and 13 infants.
The workers were welcomed by the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration, Muhaimin Iskandar, Minister of Law and Human Rights, Patrialis Akbar, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Triyono Wibowo, and the Head of the National Agency for the Placement and Protection of Overseas Labor (BNP2TKI), Moh Jumhur Hidayat.
At a press conference last night, Iskandar said the workers were repatriated with no cost on a Garuda Indonesia special aircraft and would be transported from Terminal IV Migrant Workers Data Collection building in Selapajang, Cengkareng using a vehicle.
The government was committed to revise the migrant workers departure system as a form of their concern toward the issue. The repatriation was carried out as a short-term measure. “For the long-term one, the government will be affirmed and disciplined before permitting a worker to go overseas,” Iskandar said.
Currently, he continued, there are still thousands of other workers staying in several shelters in Saudi Arabia, Jordania, Qatar and Kuwait. They would also be repatriated periodically.
Meanwhile, Patrialis Akbar committed to eliminate the cost of passport issuance for the workers who are about to go abroad. As for the passports which are being renewed, the government is considering to reduce the fee.
“Also, in order to speed up and simplify immigration check process, the workers would have their documents checked on the plane,” Akbar said.
Triyono Wibowo said there are up to 24,000 troubled migrant workers every year. Some of them were dealing with issues involving their employers such as payment issues and sexual harassment while the rest were using umrah visa or expired documents to work. Until now, there have been 1,230 troubled workers repatriated.
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Translated by: Nataya Ermanti
