1,900 Bodies of TIP Victims Repatriated to Indonesia in A Year

Jakarta, MINA – The Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD said, in one year there were 1,900 bodies returned to Indonesia due to the crime of trafficking in persons (TIP). In fact, in East Nusa Tenggara, during the period from January to May, 55 bodies had been sent home related to TIP.

“Earlier, Mr. Benny Ramdani reported to the President, in just one year the corpses that came home due to TIP reached more than 1,900 people. Specifically in NTT to May, from January to May, specifically in NTT alone, 55 bodies have been returned home due to human trafficking,” said Mahfud after attending an internal cabinet meeting regarding TIP at the Jakarta Presidential Palace, Tuesday as quoted from Republika.

Meanwhile, Head of the Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection Agency (BP2MI) Benny Rhamdani said, in the last three years, around 94 thousand Indonesian citizens were deported from the Middle East and Asia. As many as 90 percent of them are illegal or unofficial workers.

“And it is believed that 90 percent of the number were sent by syndicates for the illegal placement of Indonesian migrant workers,” said Benny.

Meanwhile, around 1,500 bodies were recorded as being repatriated to Indonesia. The majority or 90 percent of the bodies repatriated were victims of illegal syndicate placement.

BP2MI also noted that as many as 3,600 people experienced pain, depression, memory loss, and even physical disabilities due to the persecution. In addition, they also do not have psychological test results which are health requirements prior to official departure.

Benny explained that the World Bank had previously conveyed a warning about the practice of TIP in 2017. At that time, the World Bank released that there were nine million Indonesian citizens working abroad. Though officially recorded around 4.7 million.

“So, the assumption is that there are 4.3 million Indonesians working abroad who left non-procedurally and are believed by the placement syndicate to be illegal,” he said.

In this internal cabinet meeting, President Joko Widodo also instructed to fight against the syndicates. The state must not lose against the syndicates and the law must be upheld. According to Benny, BP2MI itself has been making efforts against syndicates for several years.

“In my view, this country is not proclaimed for its state officials to drink coffee and lunch with criminals or tolerate all forms of crime,” said Benny.

In fact, BP2MI has fired one ASN who was involved in the crime of illegally placing workers.

“So, this is a crime against humanity that the state must not submit to or lose against the syndicates and the mafia,” he said. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)