‘The saddest Eid’ — Coronavirus lockdown in Malaysia cuts lifeline for Indonesian migrant families
Friday, 22 May 2020 09:39 AM MYT
“My wife has been calling every day and crying. We have to cancel Eid celebrations this year,” said Wasito, who works as a plumber in Malaysia and like many Indonesians goes by one name. “I did not dare to ask why I wasn’t paid because I don’t want to be fired, and I’m too embarrassed to borrow money again for Eid,” the 49-year-old father of four told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.Hari Raya Aidilfitri is the most important festival in Indonesia, where nearly 90 per cent of its 260 million population are Muslim.
“Remittances are important for Indonesian families to support their basic needs like food, housing and education,” said Pingkan Audrine, a researcher at the Centre for Indonesian Policy Studies, a Jakarta-based think-tank., so their family in the village can earn an income,” she added. More than 100,000 Indonesians have returned home since the start of the coronavirus crisis, local media reported, and with little work around, they are now the ones who need help.
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