"We have been informed by the hospital's team of doctors that Abdan's condition has got better, and he can be repatriated to Indonesia," Indonesian Consul General in Kuching Yonny Tri Prayitno stated here on Monday.
Abdan, a resident of Dompu District in West Nusa Tenggara Province, resides at the consulate's shelter while awaiting the day of his repatriation through the cross-border checkpoint at Entikong, Sanggau District, West Kalimantan Province.
This undocumented migrant worker was admitted to the Bintulu public hospital on December 27, 2020, after he suddenly fell ill while visiting his friend in Mukah City, Sarawak, he remarked.
Owing to financial constraints over medical expenses, Abdan's friends initiated to inform the Indonesian Consulate General office in Kuching. Thus, he could finally be hospitalized.
"Abdan’s condition has been getting better. May we be able to repatriate him in the near future," Prayitno remarked.
The presence of undocumented Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia has posed a serious, persistent challenge to Indonesia over the past few years.
In June 2020 alone, the Indonesian Military (TNI) Border Security Task Force personnel intercepted 114 undocumented Indonesian migrant workers, who returned from Malaysia through illegal routes near Entikong in Sanggau District.
Those undocumented migrant workers traveled through woods and illegal routes to return to Indonesia, according to the task force's commander of Beruang Hitam's 641th Raider Infantry Battalion, Lt Col Kukuh Suharwiyono.
Several undocumented migrant workers illegally employed at Malaysia's palm oil plantations confessed to the task force members of having fled the neighboring country in the wake of no jobs amid this coronavirus pandemic.
In October 2020, nearly 500 illegal Indonesian migrant workers were deported from Malaysia and flown back home aboard chartered AirAsia flights originating from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) 2 in Sepang, Selangor.
The migrant workers were flown back in three groups. The first group of 150 people were flown to Surabaya, East Java, while the second batch of 150 people departed for Jakarta, and the third batch of 200 people flew to Medan, North Sumatra.
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Translator: Slamet A, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
