Dasco Asks The Government To Form An Integrated Task Force To Monitor All PMIs

Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives Sufmi Dasco Ahmad

JAKARTA - Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Sufmi Dasco Ahmad asked the government to form a Task Force (Satgas) to monitor the condition of Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) abroad.

This step is very important so that the safety of PMI abroad can be monitored and guaranteed, especially those in detention.

"We cannot blame one institution, but coordination is needed so that the issue of detained workers is not an easy problem to detect and supervise," said Dasco at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Wednesday, June 29, quoted from Antara.

This statement was made in response to data from the Sovereign Migrant Workers Coalition (KBMB) which revealed that as many as 149 Indonesian citizens died and several others experienced persecution at the Immigration Detention Center (DTI) in Sabah, Malaysia.

Dasco considered that it was necessary to cooperate with all parties in overcoming the problems faced by PMI abroad, so that a good solution was found in handling them.

"We appreciate the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for immediately following up on this issue so that the problems of our overseas workforce can be gradually resolved," he said.

He explained that the Integrated Task Force is also expected to handle illegal PMI issues abroad because it requires the cooperation of several ministries and related parties so that they can be monitored.

Previously, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemenlu) Teuku Faizasyah stated, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the KBMB report seriously which stated that as many as 149 Indonesian citizens (WNI) died at the Immigration Detention Center in Sabah, Malaysia.

He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia (KJRI) Kota Kinabalu and the Indonesian Consulate in Tawau would follow up the report with the relevant local authorities.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes the report seriously and will coordinate and follow up with relevant authorities in Sabah through the Indonesian Consulate General in Kota Kinabalu and the Indonesian Consulate in Tawau," Faizasyah said in a written statement, Tuesday (28/6).

Faizasyah explained that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had also requested detailed data from the KBMB regarding Indonesian citizens who were declared dead in immigration detention as well as deportants who were said to have experienced torture and ill-treatment.

According to him, the data is needed to conduct searches, verify, and ask for clarification from the authorities in Malaysia.