REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, AMBON -- A delegation from Myanmar and International Organization for Migration (IOM) officials visited Tual on Wednesday to probe allegations that PT Pusaka Benjina Resources (PBR) was inhumanely treating its citizens on Benjina Island in Maluku.
"They arrived in Tual on Wednesday to meet hundreds of Myanmar citizens who are now accommodated at the Nusantara Fishing Port," local Marine Resources and Fisheries Supervisor Mukhtar A.Pi stated over his cell phone.
Mukhtar stated that some 278 Myanmar citizens and 69 others from Laos and Cambodia are being housed at the Nusantara Fishing Port in Tual.
They are all the victims of alleged slavery practices committed by PBR on Benjina Island in Aru Islands District, Maluku province.
The victims are seeking the government's help to repatriate them to their countries of origin.
"A total of 347 victims have been evacuated from the Aru Islands District town of Dobo to the Nusantara Fishing Port in Tual where they are waiting for the government's assistance to repatriate them to their countries of origin," Mukhtar noted.
He affirmed that the delegation from Myanmar and IOM will hold a meeting with the Supervision of Marine Resources and Fisheries (PSDKP) Director General Asep Burhanudin and immigration officials to discuss the repatriation process.
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pujiastuti has noted that the government will continue to investigate the Benjina case to prevent similar practices from recurring.
"We have set up a special team to investigate the Benjina case. We have to stop the practice of illegal fishing and slavery, which has become an international issue as we have now ratified the International Labor Organization (ILO) convention," the minister remarked in Jakarta on Tuesday.
According to Pujiastuti, the government was investigating a report published by the Associated Press, according to which the PBR has been treating its crew members as slaves.
According to on-field findings, the minister pointed out that there were strong indications that the investment status and flow of funds into the company came directly from overseas. The company only served as a broker to obtain a fishing permit.
Another discovery indicated that the ship's documents were forged. Its fish processing unit was either not used or not functioning, and its fish-catching activities were not reported based on facts.
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