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40 Indonesians missing after boat sank in Malaysia
Forty passengers believed to be Indonesian migrant workers were still missing on Saturday after a boat that was supposed to carry them home to celebrate Idul Fitri sank off Malaysia
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orty passengers believed to be Indonesian migrant workers were still missing on Saturday after a boat that was supposed to carry them home to celebrate Idul Fitri sank off Malaysia.
The boat, which carried around 44 passengers and headed to Batam, sank on Thursday night on the water off the Johor state, Malaysia. Four were rescued on Friday night by local fishermen.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Tene said the 40 passengers were likely Indonesian, but he refused to confirm whether they were illegal workers.
'They used a wooden boat from Johor Bahru and sank on their way to Batam [Indonesia]. We believed so far they are Indonesian,' Michael said on Saturday.
'However, we could not yet confirm it, pending on the ongoing rescue.'
He also said his office has yet to receive the information why they used wooden boat.
According to Michael, the Indonesian Consulate General (KJRI) in Johor Bahru was still coordinating with the Malaysian authority.
Malaysia's Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), Navy, Marine Police and Air Force have dispatched two ships, four speedboats and two helicopters to scour the seas off Malaysia's southern Johor state to look for the missing people, as reported by Malaysian news agency Bernama.
MMEA official Amran Daud said the incident was only discovered when a group of fishermen found three men hanging on to a plastic drum. Another victim was found about 1 p.m. on Thursday by the MMEA, he added.
According to Amran, the rescued men were Adi, 26; Saipol Bahari, 29; Mustapa, 31 and Tajul Abdullah, 31. 'The four of them were freezing cold and 40 percent of their bodies were badly sun burnt. They were sent to the Kota Tinggi Hospital,' he said.
Shipping accidents off the coast of Malaysia are common as thousands of Indonesians work as illegal migrant workers there.
On July 19, an Indonesian woman died while seven other passengers were missing after a wooden boat carrying 35 Indonesians home for Idul Fitri overturned also off Johor state and heading to Batam island, Indonesia.
The 27 rescued people, including three women and an infant, hung on to the boat for 12 hours before being rescued by a tanker off Malaysia's southern Johor state.
The boat, which was smuggling them out of the country, suffered an engine failure. Twenty-seven Indonesians were rescued.
The Foreign Ministry has advised Indonesian workers abroad to return home using safe transports and avoid dangerous journeys using illegal motorboats. The ministry's director for the protection of Indonesians abroad, Tatang B. Razak, was quoted as saying by tempo.co that such an incident happens, especially ahead of the Idul Fitri when people were returning home.
About two million Indonesians are working in Malaysia, mostly as domestic workers or laborers in plantations. Many of them are reportedly working illegally.
Anis Hidayah of Migrant Care slammed both Indonesian government and Malaysia for being unable to solve the real problem behind the incident.
'There is an omission. They never solved it. How come two countries that have authority did nothing to solve people trafficking and illegal migrant worker issues?' she said. 'They keep deeming such incident as an accident. It's not an accident. They must stop such trafficking; and cut the line to prevent such an incident again.'
