Foreign Affairs Ministry yet to receive report of incident

Stranded Indonesians

Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said that it was yet to receive an official report on the incident involving 26 Indonesian nationals, who have been stranded in Guyana for the past five days. The men were brought to Guyana to work with a popular fishing establishment, but were relieved of their duties after raising objection to their remuneration package.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will like to state that while it has seen references to the issue in the media, the matter hasn’t been brought to the attention of the Ministry and, therefore, as of now the Ministry has no role in relation to the matter,” the Public Relations Department of the Ministry said in a statement to Guyana Times.

The men reported that they were offered US$400 (5,367,200 Indonesian Rupiah) per month to come and work with the popular fishing establishment, but they were being paid in Guyanese dollars, which did not translate into the promised amount. They objected to this, but got no satisfaction and were ordered out of the fishing establishment’s Providence branch and have been seeking refuge at the Providence Sunnatul Masjid ever since.
When this publication reached out to the company, via telephone, the representatives refused to given any information relating to the incident and subsequently disconnected the call.
A female member of the Masjid told this newspaper that the brothers at the mosque made contact with the Indonesian Embassy in neighbouring Suriname and a representative was expected in Guyana on Monday to address the men’s situation, but it was unclear if the representative did arrive.