Foreign Minister: 114,587 Indonesians Returned Home amid Coronavirus Pandemic

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi reported that 114,587 overseas Indonesians have returned to the country resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

“For the past three months between March 18 until June 17, 2020, we have recorded more than 110,000 Indonesian citizens or exactly 114,587 Indonesians who have returned home,” stated Retno Marsudi during a virtual press conference on June 18.

The week of the announcement saw an uptick of 3.7 percent in the number of overseas Indonesians returning home amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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That total amounted to 4,130 Indonesians.

The bulk of the overseas Indonesians who made their way back to their motherland were ship crew members and repatriated Indonesian citizens.

The largest number of Indonesians returning home came from Malaysia with a total of 83,035 people.

Indonesians who were ship crew members from 30 countries accounted for 23,397 returnees.

Repatriated Indonesian citizens from 49 countries amounted to 8,255 people.

Overseas Indonesian returnees entered Indonesia through five entry points positioned in Jakarta and Bali.

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister emphasized that the Ministry is closely monitoring the condition of remaining overseas Indonesians.

Helping Indonesians Abroad

Since mid of March, the government through the Indonesian embassies and consulates in Malaysia have distributed around 304,608 packages of daily goods to Indonesian citizens.

The Indonesian Diaspora members in Malaysia have sent out 109,168 similar packages.

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