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Indonesia investigates deaths of citizens in Malaysian detention
Indonesian officials are set to inspect immigration detention centers in Malaysia’s Sabah state, the site of alleged gross mistreatment of Indonesian migrant workers.
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Indonesian migrant workers from Malaysia wait to return to their hometowns at a port in Dumai, Riau, on April 28, 2020. Malaysia hosts the largest number of Indonesian migrant workers in the world, and many get caught up in domestic abuse and immigration violations. (Antara/Aswaddy Hamid)
T
he government is looking into a report published last week by a coalition of nongovernmental organizations that found that dozens of Indonesian nationals in Malaysia had died due to alleged gross mistreatment in detention centers.
Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Hermono told The Jakarta Post that he was arranging to visit immigration centers in the Malaysian state of Sabah in the coming week to investigate the allegations.
“I’ve sent a letter to the Malaysian immigration authorities for access to see the conditions in the centers firsthand. Hopefully, we will be given the time next week,” he said on Wednesday.
Following a meeting involving the Indonesian missions in Malaysia, the Sabah Immigration Authority (JIM), the Sabah Health Agency (JKNS) and the Coalition of Sovereign Migrant Workers (KBMB), the Foreign Ministry reported that a total of 18 Indonesians had died while being held at Sabah immigration detention centers in 2021, while another seven had died from January to June this year.
“They died from various diseases such as heart ailments, COVID-19 and pneumonia,” Hermono said, adding that the main cause of the high mortality rate were delays in the repatriation process due to pandemic travel restrictions.
Previously, in a report titled “Like in Hell”, the KBMB alleged that Sabah detention officers showed a lack of concern for the well-being of detainees, which had led to the deaths of at least 18 Indonesian nationals.
The report, based on interviews with Indonesian citizens who were deported from Malaysia, focuses on the Tawau Immigration Detention Center, where the report alleged a pattern of mistreatment, malign neglect and violent treatment had emerged.
