Indonesia Thwart Plan by Recruitment Agencies to Send Illegal Migrant Workers from Airport

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The government of Indonesia through its Manpower Ministry has prevented the departure of 87 illegal migrant workers to the Middle East during a sudden inspection at Juanda Airport, East Java over the weekend.

The ministry’s director general of manpower occupational safety and health supervision Haiyani Rumondang said that the impromptu visit was conducted after her administration received a report the day before.

"The team immediately moved along with the manpower supervision team of the East Java Manpower and Transmigration Office as well as the Surabaya Migrant Workers Placement technical unit,” said Haiyani in a statement on Saturday, Jan. 28.

“They immediately intervened (and prevented the departure of) about 87 prospective migrant workers who were about to fly at around 8:30 a.m. local time on Lion Air and Batik Air to Malaysia and Singapore, which were alleged to be followed up with a flight to the Middle East,” she said.

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The ministry has often conducted a such inspections at the Soekarno Hatta Airport, Tangerang, Banten, to bust operations involving the illegal placement of migrant workers.

This has led to the airport implementing strict measures when it comes to such things.

Haiyani said that the strict measures have pushed away agencies conducting illegal placements, however, now, the agencies have begun looking for loopholes at other airports to carry out their operations.

"We urge all manpower supervision agencies to give special attention to that issue in the respective areas," she added.

Meanwhile, the director of labor norms supervision at the Manpower Ministry Yuli Adiratna said that the ministry is currently collecting data and following up on the sudden inspection at Juanda Airport.