178 PMIs From Bali Who Are In Russia Will Be Repatriated

DENPASAR - A total of 178 Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) from Bali in Russia are planned to be evacuated by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The head of the UPT for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BP2MI) for the Bali Region, Wiam Satriawan, said that in 2021 there will be 154 PMI placements in Russia. Meanwhile, from 2022 to February there were 24 people, bringing the total to 178.

"Most of them work as SPA therapists. 178 people are (official) procedurally", said Wiam at the BP2MI office, Denpasar, Bali, Monday, March 7.

He said hundreds of PMIs would be repatriated because of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. The situation in the two countries is not conducive and for the safety of the PMIs, they must be sent home and are still in the process.

In addition, the condition of PMI from Bali in Russia is still unknown. Because reportedly in Russia, information is still closed and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still working on it.

"Because I heard that the information is still very closed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still investigating. (PMI) will definitely be sent home because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which means that Russia is not conducive in Ukraine. Russia is in progress", he said.

"It is the state's obligation to protect every citizen, both in Indonesia and abroad. PMI includes Indonesian citizens", he explained.

For now, there are no PMI deployments in Russia and Ukraine because they are still in conflict. It is also prohibited by law from placing PMI in conflict countries.

"We are indeed prohibited from placing PMIs into countries that are in conflict, that's in the law. Countries in conflict must be closed, we will not send PMIs there", he said.

"But now the situation is reversed, the PMI is already there, then the country conflicts with the Syrian PMI. So a few years ago it was exactly this crowded. So if the country was in conflict, we closed it down. So PMI wouldn't be there if PMI was already there. there then the country was in conflict, we sent PMI home", he said.