Indonesia’s Migrant Authority Seeks To Go Home

JAKARTA : The head of Indonesia’s migrant worker authority says he is seeking to repatriate as many as 1.8 million Indonesians who are stuck abroad without work permits, The Jakarta Globe reported.

Nusron Wahid, the head of the Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers, commonly known as BNP2TKI, said related expenses would be covered using the state budget, although he did not elaborate how much it was likely cost.

“There will be a discussion on bringing back 1.8 million illegal migrant workers who do not have a work contract, and we will use the state budget to do it,” Nusron said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He added the discussion would involve several ministries and cover technical details of the planned repatriation, including legal issues in countries where the undocumented Indonesians worked.

Nusron said a total of 6.2 million Indonesians were working overseas, consisting of nearly 4.4 million documented workers in addition to the undocumented ones.

The International Labor Organization, though, estimates that the number of Indonesians working overseas is at least double the documented figure.

The former lawmaker said most of those without work permits were currently employed in Malaysia, amounting to some 1.2 million workers — most of whom worked for the construction sector or on palm oil plantations. 

The rest are scattered in the Middle East, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Thirty-nine Indonesian domestic workers are on death row in Saudi Arabia.