Comment Intenses On Jokowi's Instagram, Indonesian Citizens Who Were Smuggled Into Malaysia Successfully Home

The handwritten of an Indonesian citizen who claimed to have been smuggled into Malaysia when interviewed at the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday (24/2/2023). (ANTARA/Virna P Setyorin)

JAKARTA - An Indonesian citizen (WNI) who claims to be smuggled into Malaysia will return to Indonesia after asking for help from President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) through the president's official Instagram account. " “Yes, I followed the IG (Instagram) (President). Then I commented. Every time I comment on his status, I comment again,” said Astuti (not the real name) of an Indonesian citizen from Jakarta, when met at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, quoted from Antara, Friday, February 24. According to the plan, the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur will facilitate his return to Jakarta on Saturday. In less than a month in Malaysia, Astuti admitted that she had worked for two different employers. He did not know for sure the first location was working, but the second location was in Putrajaya. He admitted that he was deceived after seeing job advertisements for abroad as ART on Facebook from the account of someone named Nurul. He and Nurul then met in Surabaya. According to Astuti's confession, Nurul took her to meet an agent named Bu Asun in Kediri City, East Java. Astuti said that her departure route to Malaysia began with Jakarta to Surabaya by passenger car. After that, he was taken to Kediri before being flown to Batam via Surabaya, and smuggled into Malaysia via Johor Bahru only armed with a passport - without having a work visa. In addition, he said he was promised a salary of 1,200 Malaysian ringgit (RM) or equivalent to IDR 4,119,243 per month. However, said Astuti, the salary she would get was deducted for the first three months of work. President Jokowi's Instagram The 35-year-old woman admitted that she would not go to Malaysia to become a household assistant (ART) if from the start she was informed that she would be fined Rp. 25 million if she asked to go home. "Sir, please help me, I want to go home, but my agent cheated on me. He didn't talk from the start, if I asked to go home, I would be fined Rp. 25 million & hellip;," said Astuti when telling a message she wrote to Jokowi. "Sir, please, sir, I really want to enter officially, but after investigating (it turned out) is illegal,” said Astuti again. He admitted that he felt trapped by the condition, coupled with the fact that he could not go home. Astuti also said that her job was too heavy because she had to do it alone, ranging from cleaning the house, washing and ironing clothes, cooking, to taking care of the child. "Work as an ART in Malaysia is very different from in Indonesia," said Astuti. In Indonesia, according to him, the work of taking care of children is carried out separately by baby drivers (child care workers), who do not have to clean their homes, wash, and iron clothes. “Many comment (on his comments at President Jokowi's IG). Many Indonesians responded. ’ Pak, please sir, it's Indonesian migrant workers,' that's it,” said Astuti, when citing responses from Instagram users. After several days of asking for help through the President's IG account, Astuti admitted that she received a video call via Instagram from the Presidential Palace. During the conversation via video, he said, he was asked to give the address where he was at that time, the name of the employer, as well as information regarding his passport and family card. Astuti also mentioned that she was at the same time informed that an officer from the Indonesian National Agency for Placement and Protection of Manpower (BP2MI) would contact her. BP2MI, according to Astuti, contacted her by video call via Instagram the next day. Not long after, the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur also contacted him. On Thursday (23/2), his employer escorted Astuti to the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and handed over Astuti's passport.