Indonesia Establishes Six Shelters in Taiwan for Citizens, Migrant Workers

TheIndonesia.co - Indonesian Economic and Trade Office (KDEI) to Taipei in Taiwan has prepared six shelters for Indonesian citizens, including migrant workers, who face issues in the country.

Chair of KDEI Taipei Budi Santoso likened the six newly-appointed shelters to health facilities, particularly for Indonesian citizens and migrant workers who are facing various issues, including ones related to manpower.

“When they recover and their issues are solved, PMI [Indonesian migrant workers] must return to their employers to do their job,” Santoso said on Monday, August 22, as reported by Antara.

Four out of the six shelters will specifically house PMI who are hit by problems, and they are located in four cities dubbed as PMI centers: Taoyuan, Chungli, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. Each shelter can accommodate about 250 people.

Meanwhile, the remaining two shelters are built for Indonesian citizens who overstay their visas and will return to Indonesian independently.

“Hopefully, these shelters for PMI can be optimally used to help those who are facing serious problems. However, we also hope that the number of PMI who face issues will decline,” Santoso said.

The Indonesian representative also thanked Taiwanese authorities in supporting the creation of shelters that will become temporary residence for Indonesian citizens.

“In Taichung, there are currently 30,000 PMI, and we’ve been helped by the shelter in Taichung,” secretary of Taichung’s manpower department Lai Yuan Ju added.

According to KDEI Taipei, there are 240,000 PMI currently registered in Taiwan.