JOHOR BAHRU, June 21 — The Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia (KJRI) here, has advised its citizens who do not have valid documents to be in Malaysia, to take full advantage of the Return Recalibration Programme (RP) which will end on June 30.
Consul General Sunarko said since the programme was introduced by the Malaysian government in November last year, over 2,000 Indonesian illegal immigrants in Johor had been repatriated through the initiative.
“RP is the safest and cheapest alternative for them to return to Indonesia without having to pay high fees to agents and go through an ungazetted route to get out of Malaysia.
“They will only be charged a compound fee of RM500 per person for adults and RM100 for children imposed by the Immigration Department to return home. But before that, those without any documents need to come to our office to get certain documents to be submitted to the department,” he said when met at his office, here today.
Elaborating, Sunarko said after obtaining the return permit, they have two weeks to purchase their travel tickets and perform testing for COVID-19 using RT-PCR (PCR), which they will have to pay themselves.
“However, the consulate will bear the cost of the COVID-19 PCR test and return ticket for those who are sick and cannot afford the payment, but they must pay the fine for the offence they have committed to the Immigration Department,” he said.
The programme initiated by the Home Ministry without the involvement of any vendor or a third party, was introduced to give Indonesian illegal immigrants the opportunity to return to their country voluntarily.
Among those eligible to participate in the programme are illegal immigrants who have committed an offence under Section 6 (1) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, by entering and staying in Malaysia without a valid pass or permit; Section 15 (1) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 (overstayed for a longer duration) and Regulation 39 (b) of the Immigration Regulations 1963 (violating pass terms).
