SANDAKAN – The Indonesian government has stopped issuing travel passes to facilitate the deportation of its citizens who illegally entered Sabah, said the state Immigration Department chief.
Director Datuk Sh Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said the Immigration Department conducted three series of deportations of Filipinos to Zamboanga, Philippines this year; while the deportation of Indonesians had only been done once this year.
“We hope the embassy of Indonesia will cooperate by issuing the SPLP (travel passport document) to allow the detainees to Indonesia because we have 757 of them awaiting deportation.
“We have been working well with the embassy so far but there have been delays in deportation due to the coming general election in Indonesia. We hope that the government of Indonesia will issue (these travel documents) after its election,” she said when met by reporters at Sandakan Port, here today.
However, Sitti said the four depot centres in Sabah are at half capacity – 3,222 detainees out of 7,200 capacity.
The general election in Indonesia is scheduled for February 14.
Migrants from Indonesia are normally deported via ferries bound for Nunukan port from Tawau.
Meanwhile, Sitti was present to witness the deportation of 278 Filipinos to Zamboanga, Philippines, via ferry from Sandakan port.
Out of the total migrants deported, 159 were men, 79 women, 36 children under 12 years old, and four babies under two years old.
The migrants were from the Papar immigration depot (157) and the Sandakan depot (121).
Sitti said this year to date, a total of 1,773 Filipinos have been deported. – February 7, 2024