After a video of 13 Balinese men stranded in Dubai went viral yesterday, an official has confirmed that the island’s administration is going to launch a human trafficking investigation.
A clip shared by Arya Wedakarna, a member of the Indonesian Regional Representative Council (DPD), showed the Balinese men being placed in a room and sharing food from one big bowl that they circled around.
Local news outlets reported that the men went to Dubai for internships at an unnamed company.
According to Arya in his Instagram post, the men were migrant workers who became stuck in the United Arab Emirates after they were all duped and their passports were confiscated.
Bali Manpower and Energy Mineral Resources Agency Head Ida Bagus Ngurah Arda said today that his department would delve into the case.
“We will contact our representative there [and check] how it happened,” he said.
The official went on and said that he would also be in touch with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Agency for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BP2MI).
“If they [went abroad as workers] officially, their data will be in our database or BP2MI’s,” he added.
