Chief of citizen protection task force at the Indonesian Consulate General in Kota Kinabalu Hadi Syarifuddin in a short message on Tuesday confirmed that the deportation of the Indonesian workers, who have served their jail sentences, were delayed since early this year.
He was informed that the Sabah administration was yet to reach an agreement with Tawau Port operator on the entry fee and ticket price to Tunon Taka Port in Nunukan District of North Kalimantan.
"Malaysia did not have enough funds to deport the illegal workers who have completed their sentence. Until now, there is no certainty on their deportation by early 2017," Hadi stated.
Hundreds of illegal workers have served their jail sentence and should be deported in early 2017. As many as 250 workers were detained at Kemanis Papar, while 175 workers detained at Menggatal Kota Kinabalu and more than 70 workers at Sibuga Sandakan detention center.
The Indonesian Consulate General in Kota Kinabalu has continued to monitor the workers condition before they were deported to Nunukan, Hadi noted.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
