JAKARTA - Indonesia’s Ministry for Migrant Workers Protection said its Jakarta office stopped 51 prospective migrant workers from leaving for Malaysia through an irregular placement route after a raid in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta.

The case was disclosed by Kombes Pol. Dr. Arman Muis, head of Jakarta Center for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers, known as BP3MI DKI Jakarta, in a ministry statement published on April 25. Arman said the operation began after a public report about a suspected holding location for prospective migrant workers.

“Following up on the report, the BP3MI DKI Jakarta protection team traced the Kramat Jati area and found 51 prospective migrant workers who were going to be sent to Malaysia without official procedures,” Arman said at the BP3MI DKI Jakarta office on Thursday, April 23.

Officers also found around 152 passports at the location. Arman said the passports were suspected to be connected to the planned illegal departure. The raid took place at around 10.00 a.m. Jakarta time.

The 51 workers consisted of 12 women and 39 men from Lampung, Jambi, Medan, Central Java, West Java, East Java, Bengkulu, West Nusa Tenggara, Tangerang and Central Kalimantan. They had allegedly been promised jobs at a company in Malaysia. The workers were later taken to BP3MI DKI Jakarta’s shelter for registration and further examination.

“We urge the public not to be tempted by offers of work abroad through non-procedural channels because the risks are very high,” he added further.

Malaysia’s Department of Statistics estimated 3.38 million non-citizens in the country in 2025, equal to 9.9% of the population. For Indonesians, KBRI-cited figures put documented migrant workers at 543,000, while non-procedural workers were estimated at 900,000 to 1 million, bringing the rough total to around 1.4 million to 1.5 million.

Last year, the ministry’s Crisis Center recorded 2,849 migrant worker complaints, including 344 failed departures, 80 job-scam cases, 65 illegal recruitment cases involving prospective workers, and 20 undocumented-worker cases. The largest category was workers asking to be repatriated, with 846 complaints, followed by deportation or repatriation cases at 221.

Malaysia was the biggest source of complaints in the same dataset, with 856 cases in 2025, ahead of Saudi Arabia at 363, Cambodia at 322, and Taiwan at 272.