The Story Of Pilu Te Mau Dong: Away From Family, Not Recognized By The Myanmar Embassy And Hanging Himself At Immigration In Ambon

Burial of the body of Te Mau Dong, a foreigner who claims to be from Myanmar (ANTARA/HO-Ambon Immigration Office)

AMBON - The Ambon Immigration Office has decided to bury Te Mau Dong's body in a Muslim cemetery in Ambon, Maluku Province. Te died of suicide in the bathroom of the immigration detention room at the Ambon Immigration Office on December 29, 2021.

"Consideration to be buried in Ambon is because there is no citizenship and also because of humanitarian considerations," said the Ambon Immigration Head, Armand Surya, in Ambon as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, January 5.

There is a bit of a sad story experienced by Te who lives in the Laha area, Ambon. While at immigration, Te also worked to help clean the mosque, mingling with the surrounding community so that he was quite proficient in Indonesian.

To the officers, Te admitted that he was a citizen of Myanmar and wanted to be returned to his home country. Unfortunately, the letter of request to be returned, until the day that Te died, had not been answered.

The Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta only responded to a letter from the Immigration Office after the 56-year-old man was found dead by suicide. The contents of the letter also do not acknowledge that Te is a citizen of Myanmar.

"They have doubts about the writing that is filled (Te) on the form, so they can't admit they are Myanmar citizens," said Surya.

Surya said Te's body had been buried on December 30, 2021 at the Mangga Dua Muslim TPU, Ambon. The funeral was also witnessed by the Immigration Division of the Maluku Kanwilkumham and representatives from the TNI/Polri. He said that the autopsy results on the body also revealed that Te died by suicide.

"Instead of waiting for a long time, it is impossible for us to just let the corpse rot. Finally, I decided to be buried in Islam, because the deceased happened to be Muslim, so he had to be buried 1x24 hours after his death," said Surya.

Te initially surrendered to the police in Ambon at the end of November 2021 and asked to be sent back to Myanmar.

During immigration checks, Te admitted that he was born in Natale, Myanmar, on July 7, 1966, and has been in Ambon since 2013 after escaping from a fishing boat operating in Maluku waters because he admitted that he was often tortured. When he turned himself in, Te did not hold any citizenship documents.