Parepare, South Sulawesi. More than 300 undocumented Indonesian migrant workers have been deported from Malaysia, with a third arriving Tuesday night at the port city of Parepare in South Sulawesi.

The returnees disembarked from the KM Lambelu after being transported from Nunukan in North Kalimantan. Many were still wearing brown immigration-detention T-shirts as they stepped off the vessel carrying backpacks and suitcases. Children were also among the group.

One deportee, Rasyid, said he had worked in Malaysia for a decade as a cook before becoming undocumented after his passport was destroyed in a fire. He recalled being surrounded by Malaysian immigration officers at the restaurant where he worked.

“I was still wearing my chef’s hat and couldn’t escape because they had already surrounded me. I ended up being detained for two months,” Rasyid said. He also claimed he was subjected to physical abuse while held at an immigration facility in Tawau, Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Laode Nur Slamet, coordinator of the Parepare office of Indonesia’s migrant worker protection agency, said a total of 302 Indonesian workers were deported by Malaysia in the latest wave.

Of that number, 102 were repatriated through Parepare for onward travel across Sulawesi, while most of the remaining deportees — many of whom originate from Java — were sent to other regions.

“They entered Malaysia illegally and did not have proper documents,” Laode said, adding that some had previously served sentences for criminal offenses before being returned to Indonesia.

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