Hundreds of Indonesian Migrant Workers Wish to Return Home in the First Half of 2025

The Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) received 1,120 complaints from Indonesian migrant workers (IMWs) during the first half of 2025.

These complaints were received via mail, phone, email, SMS, social media, direct reports, and other channels.

The most frequent complaints were from migrant workers wishing to be repatriated (364 cases).

Other complaints included IMWs who failed to depart (136 cases), IMWs who died (65 cases), unpaid wages (63 cases), and jobs not matching the employment contract (32 cases).

Further complaints involved illegal recruitment of IMWs (30 cases), termination of employment before the contract ended (22 cases), and employment scams (21 cases).

Beyond the complaints received by BP2MI, the Bangka Belitung Provincial Government recently reported 78 non-procedural IMWs involved in an online gambling and fraud syndicate. Of this number, 40 have been repatriated, and 38 remain stranded abroad.

However, the condition of the stranded workers is unknown due to communication disruptions.

"We continue to coordinate with relevant ministries to repatriate these non-procedural migrant workers back to the Bangka Belitung Islands," said Eko Kurniawan, Expert Staff for Economics, Finance, and Development of the Bangka Belitung Provincial Government, as reported by Antara on Thursday, July 10, 2025.