As the migrant workers originated from many regions in Indonesia, the central government cannot work alone for the repatriation effortJakarta (ANTARA) - Central and regional authorities must synergize to support the repatriation and return of migrant workers to their places of origin, House of Representatives (DPR RI) Indonesian migrant workers protection supervisory board member Fadholi emphasized.
"As the migrant workers originated from many regions in Indonesia, the central government cannot work alone for the repatriation effort," Fadholi noted in his written statement here on Friday.
A proper division of tasks must first be conducted if the central government is seeking the support of regional authorities, the board member stated while warning that the central authority would be overwhelmed if the regional authority failed to lend support.
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"The Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection Agency (BP2MI) is operating on a tight budget. If the task to repatriate the migrant workers relies solely on the central government through the BP2MI, then they would be overwhelmed as, for instance, they need to repatriate workers to Papua or Kalimantan," he stated.
Fadholi, serving as the DPR RI Commission IX member for the current term, also urged the authority to reduce the quarantine period that repatriated migrant workers were required to undergo.
He suggested the central authority to allow migrant workers to return to their home regions before the quarantine period concluded if they received a negative result in the COVID-19 PCR test.
"I agree that the migrant workers must be quarantined, particularly those who have been proven to be COVID-19 positive. However, those, who are COVID-19 negative after undergoing the test, should be allowed to end their quarantine earlier," Fadholi emphasized.
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The long quarantine period for migrant workers would burden regional authorities operating quarantine facilities with varied capacities from other provinces, he stated.
The lawmaker pointed out that the migrant workers' quarantine facilities in East Java Province are on the brink of being overloaded, with the steady inflow of repatriated workers on a daily basis.
Fadholi informed that the migrant worker protection supervisory board had recommended the central government, through the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, to open more entry channels for arriving migrant workers to tackle congestion at the current entry points.
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Translator: Fauzi, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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