TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chief of Agency for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BP2MI) Benny Rhamdani predicted the repatriation of 34,300 Indonesian workers to occur in the May-June 2020 period.

"It increases and moves dynamically," Benny said in an online press conference on BNPB (National Disaster Mitigation Agency) Youtube channel, Saturday, May 9.

He explained the repatriation of the Indonesian workers from 54 countries is due to the end of the contract term. There are 13,074 Indonesian workers from Malaysia, 11,359 from Hongkong, 3,688 from Taiwan, 2,611 from Singapore, 807 from Saudi Arabia, 770 from Brunei Darussalam, 325 from South Korea, 304 from Kuwait, 219 from Italy, and 173 from Oman and other countries.

BP2MI, Benny went on, has set health protocols at debarkation spots. The migrant workers must go through Port Health Office (KKP) for body temperature checking and coronavirus rapid testing, as well as filling out a health form.

If the rapid test shows a positive result, the worker will be handled by the National Task Force to conduct a quarantine process at COVID-19 Emergency Hospital in Wisma Atlet, Jakarta. If the test result is negative, they can go for immigration checking. Then, BP2MI will handle the data on repatriation, referral facility, workers repatriation facility, until escorting the workers to their regions of origins.

The Indonesian migrant workers would need several documents to leave for their hometowns through air, land, or water transportations which would be taken care of by BP2MI.

Lastly, they need to report to the local administration once they arrive home and follow self-isolation protocol for 14 days, including the physical distancing, for the safety of their selves and their families.

Friski Riana