Nunukan to get high powered belated visits<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
In a delayed response to an impending crisis, Vice President
\nHamzah Haz and an entourage of four ministers are to visit the
\nthousands of migrant workers languishing in camps in the border
\ntown of Nunukan, East Kalimantan, on Wednesday; the first high
\nlevel visit since the exodus that has claimed 32 lives began late
\nJuly.<\/p>\n
The visit comes amid criticism the government is doing too
\nlittle too late to help the stranded workers, many of whom
\nsuffering from various health problems.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the country's largest Muslim organization,
\nNahdlatul Ulama's (NU) Hasyim Muzadi and other prominent figures
\nplan their own visits next week while the Navy sent its warship
\nKRI Tanjung Kambani on Tuesday to serve as a floating hospital.<\/p>\n
Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh said its
\nfloating hospital Tanjung Kambani would arrive in Nunukan within
\ntwo days. The ship comes equipped with 1,500 beds and medical
\nstaff from the Army and the Ministry of Health, he added.<\/p>\n
Accompanying Hamzah will be Minister of Home Affairs Hari
\nSabarno, Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi, Minister of Manpower
\nand Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea and State Minister of Social
\nAffairs Bachtiar Chamsyah. Four legislators plan to join as well.<\/p>\n
Hamzah will stay in Nunukan for two hours where he is to meet
\nthe workers and "have a dialog with them".<\/p>\n
NU chairman Hasyim said he and members of the country's second
\nlargest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, and the Indonesian
\nCommunion of Churches and others plan to visit Nunukan on Sept.
\n11.<\/p>\n
"We want to analyze the problems based on the situation on the
\nground," Hasyim was quoted by Antara without elaborating.<\/p>\n
Nunukan drew nationwide attention after it became home to some
\n40,000 workers who fled Malaysia to avoid its crackdown on
\nillegal workers with the passing of a July 31 deadline.<\/p>\n
Workers are living in cramped makeshift camps where the lack
\nof clean water, food and proper sanitation have led to the deaths
\nof 32 workers since the end of July and 67 since May.<\/p>\n
Immigration officials in Nunukan said they were expecting
\n60,000 to 80,000 more workers this month.<\/p>\n
At least 20 recruitment agencies and an immigration official
\nare stationed on the island to speed up the process.<\/p>\n
The local immigration office has added more staff and
\ncomputers to issue as many as 5,000 passports a day from 700 on
\nnormal days.<\/p>\n
But as more workers come in, aid relief organizations have
\nwarned of further deaths due to the poor conditions in the camps.<\/p>\n
Aid is on its way to Nunukan, but legislator Posma Tobing, who
\nchairs the House of Representatives Commission VII handling labor
\naffairs, said the aid should have been sent in early August.<\/p>\n
Posma urged the government to relocate some of the workers to
\nnearby regions to ease the load on Nunukan.<\/p>\n
The island is both the exit and entry point for workers coming
\nfrom Malaysia's side of Borneo in Sabah and those wishing to
\nreturn once they obtain work permits.<\/p>\n
Nunukan facilitates the departure of workers from the eastern
\npart of Indonesia. Other arrival points in Sumatra and Kalimantan
\nserve mainly Sumatra and Java.<\/p>\n
However many of the deported workers have remained in Nunukan,
\nhoping to return to Malaysia, just as thousands of others from
\nEast Java and Sulawesi continue to flow in to depart for the same
\ndestination.<\/p>\n
Some 700,000 Indonesians were working in Malaysia, more than
\nhalf of which are believed to be working without the necessary
\npermits.<\/p>\n
Critics have said that preparations for their return were too
\nslow, blaming the government for its ineptitude in responding to
\nproblems at the grass roots.<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri left for a two-week overseas
\ntrip just days after pictures of Philippine President Gloria
\nMacapagal Arroyo helping Filipino deportees off a ship, appeared
\nin several local papers.<\/p>\n
Relates stories on Pages 2,7<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/nunukan-to-get-high-powered-belated-visits-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }