Malaysia-Batam Shipping Restricted During Eid 2021 Homecoming Prohibition

Dozens of PMIs from Malaysia queued at the Batam Center International Port, last Saturday (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Sailing from Malaysia to Batam City, which usually brings PMI (Indonesian Migrant Workers) back to Indonesia, is limited as long as the government enforces a policy of prohibiting homecoming for Eid 2021.

Head of the Riau Islands PMI Repatriation Task Force who is also the Commander of Military Resort 033 / WP Brigadier General Jimmy Ramoz Manalu stated that as long as the homecoming ban applies May 6-17, 2020, there are only six voyages from Malaysia to Batam, namely three from Tanah Merah and three from Situlang Laut. In fact, on a weekday, there is a maximum of two international voyages to Batam every day.

"The more (sailing) we go there, the more we receive people. We also have limits on our capabilities", said the Head of the Task Force in Batam, this weekend, as reported by Antara, Sunday.

So far, the local government is worried that if PMI continues to return via Batam, they will be stuck in the local city because they cannot return to their respective regions due to the policy of prohibiting going home.

He estimates that there are still thousands of PMIs from Malaysia waiting to return to Indonesia.

Meanwhile, his party also limited the number of hotels allowed to provide self-quarantine services for PMI, by PMI's health protocol for repatriation.

"The reason is due to supervision. The more hotels there are, the more people need to supervise," he said.

His party placed TNI, National Police, and Civil Service Police Unit personnel to carry out surveillance at the quarantine location hotel.

The Quarantine Law emphasizes that for people who do not want to be quarantined or run away, there are sanctions and that is heavy.

"So if they try to run away and so on with us not watching, this is risky for others", he said.

He noted that until Saturday, May 1, there were around 700 PMIs who were still undergoing quarantine in Batam, both at hotels and in flats prepared by the local government.