Over 200 Indonesians deported from Tawau in Sabah’s 14th sea deportation this year

KOTA KINABALU: A total of 239 undocumented Indonesians were deported to their country of origin from Sabah’s east coast Tawau district.

The exercise on Thursday (Sept 12) involved detainees held at the Kota Kinabalu, Papar, Sandakan and Tawau immigration depots.

Sabah immigration director Datuk Sharifah Sitti Saleha Habib Yusoff said those sent home were aged between two and 72, comprising 186 men, 41 women and 12 children.

“They were sent home using a ferry from Tawau to the Tunon Taka Terminal in Nunukan, Indonesia,” she said, in a statement on Friday (Sept 13).

She said this was the 14th deportation exercise through sea transfer this year, adding it was coordinated with the cooperation of the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Kota Kinabalu and the Indonesian consulate in Tawau.

Those deported had completed their sentences for various immigration offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Immigration Regulations 1963, she said.

Sitti Saleha said the sentences meted out to the detainees as well as the deportation were in accordance with the country’s laws.

She said the frequency of the repatriation of undocumented Indonesian citizens to their country of origin depended on the strategic cooperation between the consulate in Tawau in expediting the documentation process of the detainees.

“The deportation programme is part of an ongoing operation by the state Immigration Department to send home foreign inmates held at depots statewide.

“The department is committed towards the enforcement effort as well as repatriation exercise,” she said.