Govt Pledges to Follow Up Migrant Workers' Deaths at Malaysian Immigration Facility

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry has confirmed that it has studied the report issued by the Sovereign Migrant Workers Coalition (KBMB) in 2022 which reveals the ‘hell-like’ situation in Malaysia’s immigration detention facility located in Sabah. In response, the Ministry lauded KBMB’s attempt to participate in the protection of Indonesians overseas.

The ministry claimed to have contacted the KBMB in order to obtain the personal data of the Indonesian migrants. They believe that the report must be handled seriously due to the numerous reported deaths at the Sabah detention facility. 

Foreign Affairs Ministry’s director of citizens’ protection, Judha Nugraha, explained that the collected data will be looked into and followed up by demanding an explanation from Malaysia’s authorities once the reports of suspected abuse have been confirmed. 

Previously reported, a fact-finding team comprising non-government agencies discovered that many Indonesian migrant workers were detained at Malaysia’s Sabah immigration detention depot and some had been treated inhumanly from constant physical abuse up to death. 

A member of the fact-finding team, Abu Mufakhir, in an online discussion on Saturday, June 25, 2022, said that there was one Indonesian who had died identified as Suardi Bin Samsudin, a migrant worker who worked at an oil palm plantation. Samsudin had ended up being a prisoner of Block 7 of the Tawau Immigration Detention Depot but was declared dead at the hospital on January 7, 2021. There was no explanation regarding the cause of death.

From the results of interviews with fellow former residents of the detention center, it is known that Suardi was furiously beaten by Tawau DTI officers as he attempted to escape. The fact-finding team found that Samsudin was not the only victim during the sentence time at Sabah immigration jail. Suardi's case was the tip of the iceberg as they suspect 149 Indonesians had died during their detention at the immigration detention facility.

TEMPO.CO

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