Is there any humanity left in this nation? Children of this nation are deliberately drowning their brothers in the ocean for money and deceiving the authorities.
By
KOMPAS EDITOR
·3 minutes read
DOLUMENTASI HUMAS POLDA BANTEN
Four suspects who share roles from recruiting to illegally distributing migrant workers at the Banten Regional Police, Tuesday (21/2/2023). They lure victims with a salary of Rp. 5 million per month.
The second principle of our state ideology, Pancasila, is a “just and civilized humanity.” Not unjust and uncivilized. The actions of a group of people, including Indonesian citizens, who are suspected of deliberately drowning prospective Indonesian migrant workers in Johor waters, Malaysia, in 2021, are barbaric. Moreover, these crimes against humanity were committed for the sake of deceiving the authorities and for profit.
The Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) team discovered that the incident of a ship carrying our migrant workers in Johor waters at the end of 2021 was sunk deliberately. The tragedy killed 22 prospective Indonesian workers and left 29 others missing. Since the end of 2021, 44 migrant workers have drowned and 76 people are missing (Kompas, 1/4/2023).
These findings are devastating. What is worse is that the BP2MI team discovered that the ship was deliberately sunk so that the authorities would be distracted by the case and the syndicate could allow another ship carrying more undocumented migrant workers to pass. How barbaric.
Are these the lengths the citizens of this country would go to just to make themselves or others rich? As fellow children of this nation, even if foreigners are involved, the real victims and perpetrators are our brothers; whether brothers of this nation, allied brothers or brothers as fellow human beings.
BASARNAS
Search for victims of the sinking of the ship carrying Indonesian migrant workers in Nongsa Waters, Batam, Riau Islands, Tuesday (7/5/2019).
Human trafficking alone is unacceptable, especially at the expense of other people’s lives. Slavery in this world, including in the archipelago, was abolished more than two centuries ago. Other people’s lives are not commodities.
The government must immediately follow up on the alleged sinking of the migrant workers’ ship in Johor waters: follow up and expose the incident, as well as arrest and prosecute the perpetrators, especially if there are unscrupulous officials involved. If proven, the perpetrators and their network must be severely punished.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD in Yogyakarta on Saturday (1/4/2023), emphasized that cases of trafficking in persons still occur in many countries in various forms. “It is an evil deed,” he said.
In addition to prosecution, he added that supervision must be increased in order to anticipate the recurrence of similar acts in the future (Kompas, 2/4/2023).
Migrant Care noted that there was a pattern in the cases of sinking ships carrying migrant workers in Sumatra’s eastern waters. Malaysia remains a main destination for Indonesian migrant workers. The perpetrators of the barbaric sinking of the ship must be severely punished.
