BP2MI Reveals PMI From NTT Sends Money To Indonesia Rp140 Billion Per Year

Illustration of Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI). (Ataranews)

JAKARTA - Head of the Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection Agency (BP2MI) Benny Rhamdani said the delivery of money from 2,000 Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) from East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) every year reached Rp140 billion.

"Funds that enter NTT every year are Rp140 billion sourced from funds sent by NTT workers who work abroad. This fund is not a small number to support the economic growth of the people of NTT," said Benny while giving a public lecture at the Maranatha Kupang Health Sciences College (Stikes), NTT, Monday, September 18, confiscated by Antara.

Benny was at the educational institution as a speaker about job opportunities abroad for health education personnel.

He said the Rp140 billion funds came from 2,000 workers from NTT who worked abroad legally, such as in Germany, Malaysia, Japan, and Hong Kong.

According to him, migrant workers who work abroad officially get workers' rights in full, both the wages received by workers, the safety of workers, and receive state protection.

"So it is not surprising that the workers sent money to their parents in NTT with fantastic funds that could reach tens of millions. The contribution of NTT migrant workers abroad in supporting the economic development of this area is very large through the flow of funds reaching Rp140 billion," said Benny Rhamdani.

If a migrant worker works abroad illegally, he said, it will have an impact on receiving wages that are not in accordance with the provisions, and even tend to receive less humane treatment, such as sexual harassment, acts of persecution, and not receiving wages as promised by the employer.

According to him, of the 420 Indonesian migrant workers from NTT Province who died during the last three years, around 90 percent were workers who worked abroad non-procedurally.

Benny added that job opportunities abroad for health workers are very large because a number of countries, such as Japan, Germany, and Arabia need Indonesian workers to work in a number of hospitals with income reaching Rp20-Rp30 million/month.

"We hope that STikes Maranata students who want to work abroad will prepare themselves well and must have adequate language skills so that it is easier to adapt to the work environment in the destination country," said Benny.

Benny hopes that students will help the government in educating residents not to easily believe certain people who invite villagers to work abroad illegally with the lure of large salaries.

The role of students in preventing cases of criminal trafficking in persons (TPPO) is very important in order to prevent more and more NTT residents from becoming victims of trafficking in persons.