Jakarta, IO – Indonesian Ambassador to Cambodia Santo Darmosumarto said that there are around 60 percent of Indonesian citizens (WNI) residing in Cambodia, the majority of whom work as online gambling customer service.
“Meanwhile, the other 40 percent work in other sectors, including salons, restaurants, and so forth,” he said, per Bisnis, Thu (29/2).
He explained that online gambling increased along with the number of Indonesians in Cambodia. “If we look at Cambodia, it is a small country but there are a lot of Indonesian citizens there. However, they actually work in the online gambling sector which is legal in Cambodia,” he said.
Furthermore, Santo revealed that there had indeed been incidents of Indonesian citizens changing their visa types such as to a work permit upon arrival, and this is legal.
“According to the Ministry of Manpower, there are 73,000 Indonesian citizens with working permit in Cambodia at the end of 2023,” he said.
Based on Cambodian immigration records, around 90,000 Indonesian citizens have visas with validity period from six months to one year. Meanwhile, according to the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism, there were around 127,000 Indonesian citizens visiting Cambodia in 2023.
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However, Santo said that Cambodia is not a destination country for the placement of Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI).
“The reason why the queue for renewing passports and legalizing these documents is getting longer at the Indonesian Embassy. According to the embassy’s records, there are only 17,000 Indonesian citizens who report their presence,” he added. (rr)