"Now, we are intensively making preparations to handle it quicker," the minister noted in Jakarta on Monday.
He made the statement while attending a workshop on bureaucratic reform of the National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT) themed "Strengthen the capacity of bureaucratic reform to shape BNPT personnel with integrity, nationalism, and professionalism in carrying out the task of effective counter-terrorism."
Earlier, Mahfud and the Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection, the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, and the Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection Agency (BP2MI) held a meeting to handle money laundering and alleged smuggling of Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI).
In addition to the terrorism crime case, he noted that human trafficking and PMI smuggling should be handled immediately by the government.
"Criminal cases of human trafficking are crazy," he remarked.
He cited the example of Indonesian citizens (WNI), who were initially sent to several countries as PMI, but upon arrival, they were treated inhumanely, including not being paid for their work.
Moreover, Indonesian citizens were sent as PMI, but in fact, they were held captive on the ship for months without communication with their family members.
"Some Indonesian citizens were also held captive, were beaten, and had not received their wage," Mahfud stated.
These various cases are currently being handled by related ministries and agencies to avoid similar cases from recurring in future, he remarked.
He suggested that the handling of human trafficking could start from the village level by disseminating information on the mechanism of obtaining a passport to the purpose of applying for a passport.
This step is important to avoid any human trafficking or PMI smuggling abroad. This policy is also in line with the Presidential Regulation (Perpres) issued by the head of state at the end of 2021, Mahfud stated.
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Translator: Muhammad Zulfikar, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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