JABAR EKSPRES – Director of Protection of Indonesian Citizens and BHI of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Judha Nugraha revealed that cases related to Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) who were not paid the most occurred in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.
Judha did not mention specifically how many Indonesian citizens were not paid. However, he said that Indonesian migrant workers are vulnerable to exploitation because they do not have official documents and enter the destination country in ways that are not in accordance with procedures.
“This status (without official documents) makes the position of Indonesian citizens vulnerable in the destination country,” he said when met in Jakarta, Thursday (8/3).
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He said the two countries have the largest number of Indonesian citizen communities and many migrant workers work in the domestic sector.
The Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) noted that Saudi Arabia and Malaysia are the most common destination countries for non-procedural Indonesian migrant workers without official documents.
Saudi Arabia is widely chosen as a destination country for migrant workers because it only requires an Umrah visa or pilgrimage visa. Meanwhile, Malaysia has many border entrances with Indonesia, making it easier for migrant workers to enter without official documents.
Judha said that immigration problems of Indonesian citizens abroad, including Indonesian citizens without official documents, are the most common cases among other cases such as labor, hostage-taking, trafficking and Hajj and Umrah issues.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has highlighted cases related to the protection of Indonesian citizens this year, including the evacuation of Indonesian citizens from Sudan, handling cases of Indonesian citizens employed to commit online fraud or online scam, handling cases of migrant workers with the initials DA who claimed to be enslaved in Syria, and handling Indonesian citizens who married without documents in the United Arab Emirates.
