Photo: illustration.

KUALA LUMPUR - Indonesia has announced a major rise in funding for migrant worker protection, with the budget more than doubling over the past five years.

Director of Human Rights and Migration Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, Indah Nuria Savitri, said the increase is part of wider institutional reforms to strengthen national protection systems for Indonesian migrant workers.

Indah said the government has made these improvements by pairing structural reforms with a larger national budget dedicated to migrant worker protection and empowerment.

“The strengthening of this institution goes hand in hand with a consistent and significant increase in the national budget allocation, which rose from Rp 260 billion in 2020 to more than Rp 687 billion in 2025, solely dedicated to programs for the protection and empowerment of migrant workers,” she said.

Indah explained that the budget rise supports wider institutional changes introduced by the government.

She said the former agency responsible for migrant workers has now been elevated to a full ministry to improve coordination and accountability.

“We have upgraded the former agency to the Ministry of Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers to consolidate fragmented mandates, strengthen institutional coordination, and accountability related to migrant worker protection,” she added.

These reforms also resolve long-standing overlaps in authority that previously weakened the effectiveness of the protection system.

Indah said the new ministry now carries a dual role that includes policy-making and direct service delivery.

“The ministry now functions both as a regulator responsible for policy-setting, standards formulation and coordination mechanisms, and as an operator providing direct protection services to migrant workers,” Indah noted.

She added that this upgrade is not just a change in name but reflects the government’s strong political commitment to migrant worker protection.

“The establishment of the ministry reflects Indonesia’s strong political commitment to placing migrant worker protection at the forefront of national priorities,” she said.

Director General of Protection at KP2MI, Rinardi Rusman, said the government’s efforts to prevent irregular migration are showing real results through an integrated system.

“We have strong government-supervised recruitment procedures through an integrated system, or what we call Cisco P2MI.

“Only in 2025, our efforts successfully prevented 5,913 individuals from attempting to migrate through irregular channels,” Rinardi said.

He said the government also prioritises stronger bilateral cooperation through labour agreements that place worker protection at the centre.

He highlighted Malaysia as the key example and said the same model could be used with other countries.

“We prioritise strengthening bilateral cooperation through bilateral labor agreements that radiate protection principles, such as no-cost placement and a one-channel system in our agreement with Malaysia,” he said.

Rinardi also noted that the government is tackling new threats such as online fraud operations with a specialised response team.

He said the team has already seen strong results in coordination since 2024.

“Our cyber-trafficking response team has identified and repatriated 1,324 victims from Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos since 2024.

“The National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons guides our coordinated law enforcement efforts and our victim-oriented reforms,” he added.

Rinardi said the rise in public complaints is a sign that people trust the system and that the government is responding effectively.

“We have received and resolved 20,675 complaints through various accessible channels, including the national call center and WhatsApp service for the period of 2017 to March 2025,” he said. 

The government also acknowledged gaps in migrant worker data, especially concerning undocumented workers, deported families and unaccompanied migrant children.

Officials said they are now committed to building a central and comprehensive database that can capture all required information under the convention.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Communications and Informatics has opened channels for reporting scam content on websites, digital platforms and social media through the site aduancontent.id.

The ministry has also provided a mechanism for the public to check and report suspicious bank accounts through checkrekening.id.