1 Plane With Foreign Minister Retno, 12 PMI Victims Of Captivity In Cambodia Will Return To Indonesia Today

Foreign Minister Retno releases humanitarian aid for Rohingya refugees from the Indonesian Government at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base, Jakarta, in the morning of September 2017. (Humas-Setkab-Jay)

JAKARTA - As many as 12 of the 129 Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) who are victims of confinement in Cambodia will be repatriated. They are scheduled to arrive at Soekarno-Hatta Airport (Soeta) Tangerang, Banten today, Friday 5 August.

Dozens of victims of fraud and criminal acts of trafficking in persons (TPPO) will be on a plane together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Menlu) Retno Marsudi to return to the country.

"With the same plane as the Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi," said Head of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) Benny Rhamdani, at Soetta Airport, Thursday evening, August 4.

Furthermore, they will be temporarily accommodated at the Jakarta Athlete's Wisma in accordance with the Indonesian government's plan to evacuate PMI from being held captive in Cambodia from the Indonesian government.

After that, they immediately carried out the process of returning to their respective villages.

According to him, the migrant workers who had experienced the confinement were victims of cases of illegal Indonesian labor placement syndicates through social media or social media.

"Through social media, they were promised jobs unofficially. Then after it was known what was given to them, they turned out to be asked to deceive fellow Indonesians," he said, according to Antara.

It is known that the Cambodian Police together with the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh succeeded in rescuing seven Indonesian citizens from the confinement of an online scammer company in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on July 31.

This success increased the number of Indonesian citizens who could be rescued to a total of 62 people based on information from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs received in Jakarta, Sunday, July 31.

The additional number of Indonesian citizens is based on further investigation from the Cambodian Police. Previously, on July 30, 2022, as many as 55 Indonesian citizens were successfully released by the Cambodian Police and the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh.

As of Friday, August 5, the Director for Protection of Indonesian Citizens at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Judha Nugaha, said that 129 Indonesian citizens had been rescued.

Judha explained that the 129 Indonesian citizens worked in different companies and locations, but the majority were in Sihanoukville. He said the plan for the repatriation of the Indonesian citizens would be carried out in stages.

"As a concrete result, the repatriation of Indonesian citizens will soon be carried out in stages according to the availability of flights. The first stage will be repatriating 12 Indonesian citizens to the country today," Judha explained in a virtual press statement, Friday, August 5, morning.