REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Minister of Foreign Affairs Marty Natalegawa considers precaution as the main component for Indonesian citizens abroad including Indonesian migrant worker. Such measure has yielded some results, including the decreasing number of criminal cases by 49.4 percent in 2012 compared to the previous year.

”There are some level of protecting Indonesians abroad, namely precaution, early detection, and protection,” Natalegawa said on Friday. 

Earlier, Indonesia had been concentrated on protection. However, such measure did not settle the problems comprehensively. The new strategy then focuses its effort on precaution measure.

"The precaution measure is starting to yield promising results," he said. Throughout 2012, the percentage of Indonesian citizen cases abroad is reduced by 49.4 percent.

According to the data in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the amount of cases of Indonesian citizens abroad in 2012 is 19,218 cases. Domestic workers problems dominate the case.

The ministry also put some efforts to freed Indonesian citizens from death sentence. "In 2012, we have freed 110 Indonesian citizens from death sentence," Natalegawa said. 

About 33 walked free from jail, 13 got life sentence, nine were in probation, and the rest are still imprisoned. Ironically, success is followed by another problem. Indonesia faces 119 new cases of Indonesian citizens sentenced to death, with 60 percent of them are involved in drug case. "We have to reach national consensus to solve such problem, whether government will provide budget or involve insurance," he emphasized.

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