'No migrant workers in Nunukan'

'No migrant workers in Nunukan'

SAMARINDA: Administration officials in Nunukan denied the presence of around 30,000 migrant workers in the regency, saying that it was just a rumor aimed at creating public unrest.

The head of the migrant workers repatriation team, Kasmir Foret, said that Nunukan was normal and that nothing extraordinary had happened in the city.

Kasmir, however, admitted that there were indeed a number of returning migrant workers from Malaysia. But he was quick to remark that the workers only visited the city to renew their immigration documents.

Last year, around 65,000 migrant workers who were deported by the Malaysian government flooded the small city in the northernmost tip of East Kalimantan province.

More than 50 workers died of hunger and disease in temporary camps in the town. --JP