Nunukan: An impoverished

Nunukan: An impoverished
transit for the hunted

Nunukan has long been a transit center for migrant workers from
Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi making the sea crossing to neighboring
Malaysia -- either legally or illegally.

In the last month, the regency at the eastern tip of East
Kalimantan province has been flooded with deported workers who
have doubled Nunukan's population.

The Malaysian government's policy to only allow legal workers
to remain in the country forced many Indonesians to the
impoverished, three-year-old regency where they hope to gain work
permits and return to Malaysia without fear of being hunted down
and caned as criminals.

The migrant workers have not only suffered from a lack of
water and food, but they have also become victims of those
seeking to benefit from their ignorance. The non-stop extortions
have worsened their hardship.

(Text by Fitri Wulandari and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak)