T

he relatives of three migrant workers from Lombok who were slain in Malaysia are asking police to investigate if human traffickers were involved in the deaths.

Their calls for an investigation and autopsies were echoed by Migrant Care and Koslata, two migrant-worker NGOs, following allegations that the three were victims of human-organ traffickers.

The relatives reported that the bodies of the men were disfigured, with parts of their bodies, including their eyes, missing.

West Nusa Tenggara Police spokesperson Comr. Lalu Wirajaya said that local officials would investigate the allegations and conduct autopsies of the corpses pending the receipt of needed paperwork from the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Lalu said that since the allegations of wrongdoing occurred outside the jurisdiction of the local police, the embassy would have to provide a chronology of the deaths and statements of the condition of the corpses before their shipment to Indonesia.

The request for the paperwork, which was filed by the National Agency for Workers’ Placement and Protection (BP3TKI), had to be processed before the autopsies could be conducted, he said.

“The BP3TKI sent a letter to the Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia, querying about the chronology of the deaths. We are waiting for a response from the embassy, after which we can follow up,” he said on Monday.

“The police will be proactive in the investigation while waiting for relatives to file formal reports,” Lalu said.

The victims were identified as Herman, 33; Abdul Kadir, 24; and Mat Nur, 28, all from Pancor Kopong village in East Lombok.

The three, who left for Malaysia in 2010 for construction jobs in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, were found dead on March 24 and their bodies were sent home on April 5.

The victims’ relatives came to West Nusa Tenggara Police headquarters on Monday, accompanied by representatives of Koslata and the BP3TKI.

“They just told us what they said were their suspicions about the deaths. We advised them to file reports formally with the East Lombok Police, attached to written documents from the BP3TKI and the Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia,” Lalu said.

A notice signed by a Malaysian hospital official was attached to the caskets and stated the victims died from multiple gunshot wounds.

The Indonesian Embassy also attached a notice to the caskets that stated that the embassy was not responsible for the condition of the bodies and that it had not investigated how the men died.

A representative of Koslata said that it was unusual that the embassy’s letter was not forwarded to relevant agencies, such as the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, the Nusa Tenggara Barat provincial administration or the East Lombok regency administration.

“We assume the three have become victims of a human-trafficking syndicate because, based on explanations provided by the relatives, the corpses were no longer intact with parts, such as their eyes, missing,” Koslata coordinator Muhammad Saleh said.

In Jakarta, Migrant Care demanded that the Foreign Ministry urge the Malaysian government to immediately release the reports of the autopsies that Malaysian officials conducted on the men.

Migrant Care executive director Anis Hidayah said that several witnesses at Port Dickson Hospital, where the bodies were autopsied, said that they found “unusual” sutures on the chests and stomachs of the men.

“The stitch patterns on their bodies were unlike usual autopsy stitches. They also had their eyes stitched,” Anis said.

According to Tatang Budie Razak, the Foreign Ministry’s citizen protection chief, the ministry had contacted the embassy in Kuala Lumpur to investigate the case. (fzm)