Asking For Quick Steps, Jokowi Orders TIP Task Force Restructuring

Illustration of human trafficking (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) ordered a restructuring of the Task Force for the Eradication and Prevention of the Crime of Trafficking in Persons (TPPO), said Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD. The President conveyed this after receiving a report from the Head of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) Benny Rhamdani in an internal meeting on the eradication of the TIP. "Earlier, Mr. Benny reported to the President that in just one year the corpse had returned because the person's trade crimes reached more than 1,900," said Mahfud, quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, May 30. Mahfud added that the latest data even found at least 55 Indonesian migrant workers from East Nusa Tenggara returned to the country in a state of death from January to May 2023. "Therefore, the President stated that he was restructuring the Indonesian Migrant Action Task Force, which was deported from Middle Eastern and Asian countries.," he said.

"Then the bodies are approximately 1,900. This means that every day on average two coffins enter the country. The same is that 90 percent of them used to depart unofficially, victims of illegal syndicate placements," said Benny. The government currently regulates efforts to prevent and handle TIP through Presidential Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 22 of 2021 concerning Amendments to Presidential Regulation Number 69 of 2008 concerning the Task Force for the Prevention and Handling of Trafficking in Persons.