School for Indonesian kids at Alam Mesra year end
Published on: Sunday, April 13, 2008
Kota Kinabalu: A school will be built here to ensure Indonesian children are not deprived of getting formal education, Acting Indonesian Consul General for Sabah Rudhito Widagdo said.He said the school would be constructed at Alamesra, Jalan UMS, and is expected to be ready within this year.He said the school to be named Sekolah Indonesia Kota Kinabalu (SIKK) "will be for our countrymen to procure proper education while their parents are working in Sabah.
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"We hope to see the project materialise by July," he told a Press conference after attending a roundtable discussion between Indonesian authorities, plantation employers and several Malaysian enforcement agencies at the Indonesian Consulate here.Among those present were Director-General of Law and International Deal Bapak Handriyo Kusumo, head of Immigration department for Nunukan and Kalimantan Timur, Sabah Police Chief Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim, Sabah Immigration Director Datuk Baharon Talib, Sabah Labour Department Senior Assistant Director Walter Raymond and Federal Special Task Force Director Misri Barham.The Consulate organised the brainstorming session to find way to improve the protection and treatment of Indonesian workers in Sabah.On students' age, Rudhito said the school would even allow admission of students aged 10 to attend Year 1 classes as the students may face difficulties in entering schools here. The school would be using the Indonesian education syllabus.
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Presently, international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other quarters are running learning centres in plantations and estates in Sabah to provide formal education to Indonesian workers' children."So far, we have sent 109 Indonesian teachers to teach the children at the learning centres in the State. One NGO that I am familiar with is the Borneo Child Aid Society or Humana that is actively running the centres for children of foreign workers including Indonesians," he said.
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On Humana's website, it is stated as a Malaysian-registered NGO that has procured a licence to operate from the Ministry of Education in Putrajaya. It is running 72 learning centres and more than 5,500 children among Indonesians and Philippines are attending the schools in Sabah.On Indonesian workers in Sabah, Rudhito disclosed that the Consulate received 1,200 complaints last year, which were about 100 complaints a month.There are about 240,000 Indonesian workers in Sabah and 60 to 70 per cent of them are working in palm oil plantations while the rest in the construction sector and as domestic helpers."Most of the complaints are about immigration problems, like overstaying, while the rest are about their welfare not taken care of, underpaid, did not receive salary, harassment and oppression at workplace," he said.Asked on illegal Indonesian workers in Sabah, Rudhito asserted that there was no such term (illegal Indonesians) for the Consulate as he assured his countrymen would enter Sabah legally and comply with Malaysian Immigration law by bringing along valid travel documents.He, however, said some Indonesian workers were made illegals when they were cheated by unscrupulous employers. He also reminded that Indonesian workers had made vast contributions to the growth of Sabah's economy. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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