Mutia Yuantisya, Jakarta – The National Human Rights Commission or Komnas HAM called on the Indonesian government to immediately take action on the fate of citizens at the Immigration Detention Centers in Sabah, Malaysia. The government should respond to the report issued by the Sovereign Migrant Workers Coalition (KBMB).
"The KBMB report is an important issue that must receive attention from the Indonesian government as soon as possible because it involves two things," said Komnas HAM's External Deputy Chairman Amiruddin Al Rahab in a Tempo interview at the Komnas HAM HQ, Menteng, Jakarta, Tuesday, June 28, 2022.
The two important things, Amiruddin explained, are the protection of the right to life of Indonesians who face legal problems in another country, in this case, Malaysia. "They must be given protection as soon as possible," he said.
The second vital thing is that the Indonesian government has to take immediate action to ensure the citizenship documents of each person with such problems so that they can be protected and served by Indonesian representatives in Sabah. "That's what's important now," said Amiruddin.
He mentioned that more than 200,000 Indonesians living in Sabah were undocumented or lacked documents.
"It's been decades. I got this information when I came to Kinabalu in 2018. What does it mean? This has been a prolonged problem," he said, adding that a lot needs to be improved, especially immigration and surveillance services to resolve or at least minimize the problems.
Horrible finding
In the report, the non-governmental organization revealed a high number of deaths of Indonesian migrant workers and families at the immigration detention centers over the past two years.
Indonesian citizens who were arrested for violating the immigration regulations allegedly live in inappropriate conditions and have no access to healthcare facilities. The Sovereign Migrant Workers Coalition found that from 2021 to June 2022, 149 Indonesian citizens died in a number of detention centers in Sabah, Malaysia.