Ma'ruf Amin reminded migrant workers that those without official documents cannot receive protection from the government or employers and are vulnerable to fraud.
Zailis was brutally tortured by her employer in Malaysia.
"They were repatriated gradually in four batches."
TheIndonesia.id - The first group of Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) which consisted of 190 workers arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten province, after being deported from Malaysia.
The Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Board, or BP2MI, revealed that the 190 migrant workers, who arrived in Indonesia on Thursday, August 4, were part of the total of 3,200 individuals who were and will be deported from Malaysia this year.
“The number of returnees are 190 out of 3,200 Indonesians who will undergo deportation process from Malaysia in 2022,” head of BP2MI Benny Rhamdani said on Thursday, as reported by Antara.
According to him, the returning individuals fell victim to or were involved in cases related to mistreatment, exploitation, and trafficking in persons.
They originated from different provinces in Indonesia, including East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, North Sumatra, Central Java, West Java, Lampung, Riau Islands, West Sumatra, West Sulawesi, Riau, West Kalimantan, Banten, Jakarta, East Nusa Tenggara, Central Sulawesi, and Jambi.
Meanwhile, the remaining PMI will later return to Indonesia in several batches.
Rhamdani also said that the returning individuals will be temporarily housed in Wisma Atlet in Kemayoran, Jakarta.
He later thanked all institutions that played a part in the success of the repatriation effort, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We started out with collaborations with ministries and agencies, and [the government tries to assist all Indonesian migrant workers] regardless of whether or not they departed to work abroad in accordance with applicable procedures,” he concluded.
