Aid pours in but workers still suffer<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Relief worth billions of rupiah continues to pour in for some
\n18,000 returning workers in overcrowded camps in Nunukan, East
\nKalimantan, but their condition is rapidly deteriorating mainly
\ndue to a severe lack of nutritious food and clean sanitation
\nfacilities.<\/p>\n
A number of camps are still crammed with hundreds, or even
\nthousands, of fatigued workers, while the construction of new
\nbarracks has brought only little relief to their suffering.<\/p>\n
\"It is not true that we are eating three times a day. You can
\nsee for yourself what we are eating,\" Selle, 45, told Antara in
\ndespair on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Selle, hailing from Sidrap, South Sulawesi, said he had been
\nstaying at the Pasar Ikan barracks for more than a month.<\/p>\n
Social affairs minister Bachtiar Chamsjah said during a visit
\nby Vice President Hamzah Haz to Nunukan last week that the
\nworkers were eating nutritious food three times a day.<\/p>\n
Most workers in refugee camps such as Porsas, Pasar Ikan, PT
\nInhutani Sawmil and others camps, however, said that they ate
\nonly twice a day -- at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. -- with a regular menu
\nof rice and small dried fish known as dilis.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, financial assistance from various groups has
\nreached over Rp 8 billion since Hamzah's visit, but the funds
\nhave barely alleviated the workers' suffering.<\/p>\n
A lot of funds are channeled through various volunteer groups,
\nincluding those spontaneously set up by local people, making it
\ndifficult for the government to control.<\/p>\n
The workers' ordeal is further exacerbated by a critical
\nshortage of clean water.<\/p>\n
\"We have to buy water for bathing and other needs, and every
\ntime we go to the toilet we have to pay Rp 1,000. Nothing is free
\nhere,\" said another worker called Melle.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Nina, who has been in a Nunukan camp for almost one
\nmonth, spoke of a similar experience.<\/p>\n
Antara reported on Sunday that only refugee camps in Mambunuit
\nvillage, South Nunukan, which were built after Hamzah's visit
\nlast week, have clean water and serve nutritious food.
\nUnfortunately, however, only around 200 workers out of the
\noriginally planned 1,200 enjoy the facility.<\/p>\n
The workers are also complaining about difficulties
\nencountered in acquiring passports.<\/p>\n
\"We have come to learn that it is extremely difficult to
\nacquire a passport. Almost one and a half months have passed and
\nI still don't have one,\" said Nasir, a worker from Bantaeng
\nregency, South Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of Indonesians fled to Nunukan in August
\nafter Malaysia imposed a new immigration law that introduced
\ncaning, a fine and imprisonment for foreigners working illegally
\nthere.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/aid-pours-in-but-workers-still-suffer-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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