TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Agency for Placement and Protection of Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) official Teguh Hendro Cahyo said that Malaysian authorities have arrested 200 undocumented Indonesian migrant workers from 1500 caught in raids on foreign workers.

According to him, the Malaysian government is carrying out large-scale raids on undocumented immigrants or foreign workers from 15 countries, such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, etc.

Read: Malaysia to Raid Undocumented Indonesian Migrant Workers

Therefore, he has called on Indonesian migrant workers who do not have required documents in their possession, such as passport or work permits to participate in the so-called ‘voluntary deportation’ program which has been extended to December. “Those who have secured their documents should bring them anywhere they go in order to not get caught during raids,” he said.

He said that there are currently 2.8 million documented Indonesians working abroad and 4.5 million undocumented ones.

Read: 20 Illegal Indonesian Migrant Workers Arrested in Malaysia

He added that East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is one of Indonesia’s top 10 contributors of migrant workers, both documented and undocumented. “There 3000 legal [workers] per year, and many more are illegal,” he said.

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