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Indonesian migrant workers investigated in Hong Kong
Hong Kong immigration authorities are investigating 18 Indonesian citizens for allegedly providing false information on their passports.
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Legal problems – Female Indonesian migrant workers, most of whom work as domestic helpers, form a long queue to cast their votes during the 2014 elections in Hong Kong. Hong Kong immigration authorities are investigating 18 Indonesian citizens for allegedly providing false information on their passports. (Setkab.go.id/-)
“They are female migrant workers. They are under investigation for allegedly falsifying data on their passports,” said Andry Indrady, the immigration consul at the Indonesian Consulate General (KJRI) in Hong Hong, as quoted by news agency Antara on Monday.
The Indonesian migrant workers allegedly falsified personal data, including their age, to be able to work in Hong Kong.
Andry said the KJRI Hong Kong had corrected the passports based on data from the Immigration Management and Information System (SIMKIM).
“The KJRI Hong Kong has corrected data on the passports, completed with introduction letters, which contain guarantees on the legality and accuracy of the data, from the Hong Kong immigration department,” he said.
Still, Andry said, Hong Kong immigration authorities were pursuing two processes in parallel by issuing corrected visas to the Indonesian migrant workers while at the same time continuing the criminal prosecution against them.
“As of now, 35 passports have been corrected by the KJRI. Fourteen people have received new visas, while 18 are still being investigated by Hong Kong authorities, with full assistance from the KJRI. Meanwhile, three other workers are serving the Hong Kong court’s sentences,” said Andry.
He said the KJRI Hong Kong was strongly committed to providing services based on the mission to protect Indonesian citizens abroad. The consulate, he said, had provided legal assistance, starting from the questioning stage through to trials, to Indonesian citizens whose data was corrected. The KJRI Hong Kong, he added, also provided bail for Indonesian citizens undergoing hearings in accordance with Hong Kong laws.
Andry said the KJRI Hong Kong also had provided written legal assistance in the form of mitigation letters, prepared by retainer lawyers, for court judges. Consulate officials were also routinely coordinating with Hong Kong’s immigration department.
The immigration consul further said the KJRI Hong Kong had taken anticipative measures by striving to hold a high-level meeting of Indonesian and Hong Kong authorities in the near future to solve data differences on the passports of Indonesian citizens in Hong Kong and to initiate the signing of an MoU on cooperation between the Hong Kong immigration department and Indonesia’s immigration directorate general. (ebf)
