Mediated by Manpower Office, Buleleng Training Centre Returns Personal Documents of Prospective Migrant Workers
The retention of personal documents belonging to trainees at the Analisa Bali College Job Training Centre (LPK) in Depeha Village, Kubutambahan District, Buleleng Regency, culminated in mediation facilitated by the Buleleng Manpower Office (Disnaker) on Monday (13/7/2026). The participants are prospective Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI).
The case came to light after several former participants filed complaints regarding the issue. The documents in question included identity cards (KTP), family cards (KK), diplomas, passports, and birth certificates. A number of participants claimed they had difficulty retrieving their documents because they were still being asked to settle training fees.
Head of the Buleleng Manpower Office, Putu Arimbawa, stated that his office received a recommendation from the Bali Centre for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BP3MI) to mediate the settlement of the case. The recommendation letter mentioned that 20 participants had filed complaints. However, the identity data received by the Manpower Office only listed 16 names. Of that number, only four people attended the mediation invitation.
"Almost all the issues raised were related to requests for the return of personal documents still held by the LPK," Arimbawa said on Monday (13/7/2026). During the mediation, the LPK agreed to return all documents belonging to the participants who were present without any conditions. The institution also dropped its demand for the settlement of training fees, which previously amounted to around Rp 5 million per participant.
According to Arimbawa, based on the LPK’s explanation, the participants’ documents were kept because they were needed for the administrative process of placing prospective migrant workers through a migrant worker placement company (P3MI) that cooperates with the institution. Original documents, such as diplomas, are required for visa processing and departure requirements. Nevertheless, Arimbawa stressed that personal documents must not be held as collateral. "No institution is allowed to hold personal documents as collateral. If they are indeed used for administrative processing, once the process is complete, the documents must be immediately returned to their owners," he said.
Arimbawa assessed that the problems arose largely due to poor communication between the participants, the LPK, and the P3MI, especially after some prospective migrant workers experienced delays in their departure abroad. This situation raised concerns among participants because their personal documents were still in the LPK’s possession. As a follow-up, the Buleleng Manpower Office stated it would provide guidance to all LPKs in its jurisdiction to ensure they function solely as training institutions and do not overstep their authority in the migrant worker placement process.
Meanwhile, the owner of Analisa Bali College LPK, Putu Ayu Rediani, denied that her institution had withheld the participants’ documents. She stated that the documents were entrusted for administrative processing with the migrant worker placement company. "If participants need their documents and inform the LPK, we will certainly give them straight away. What happened yesterday was due to miscommunication," she said. Rediani also emphasised that the delay in the departure of prospective migrant workers was the authority of the placement company (P3MI), not the LPK. According to her, only two participants experienced a delay in their departure to Turkey for about three months.