FA: Problems Linked to Migrant Workers Stem from its Upstream
3 April 2018 10:42 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Indonesian citizen protection director Muhammad Iqbal advised the East Nusa Tenggara’s (NTT) government to focus its efforts on preventing the flow of illegal migrant workers from NTT to Malaysia.
“It is difficult to calculate the number of illegal migrant workers however I prefer that we focus on preventions. We realize that this problem stems from in it upstream, rather than its downstream,” said Muhammad Iqbal on Monday, April 2.
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His concern emerged following the plans of East Nusa Tenggara’s government on forming a special team to identify illegal migrant workers.
The problems in its upstream, according to Iqbal, starts from the departure process of migrant workers up to how the workers managed to take the illegal route to work abroad. All of which, he said, must be prevented here back in Indonesia.
He argues that Indonesia needs a better way to manage the deployment of migrant workers that is faster to handle, has less bureaucracy and is more affordable.
According to a data in 2015 that was compiled by a team of researchers for TKI management in East Nusa Tenggara, there are around 27,669 NTT residents that work abroad as migrant workers. However, since 2015 up to March of 2018 the team found that 30 NTT migrant workers return home inside a coffin.
The latest case involved Adelina Jemira Sao, an NTT migrant worker who worked in Malaysia that died after being tortured by her employer that took place on February 1, this year. This brought the public to highlight the problems regarding migrant workers.
SUCI SEKARWATI
