JAKARTA - It was past 8pm on March 23 when student Hayyu Imanda, 26, put out a call for help to Indonesia's consulate in Cape Town.She would later learn that the country would go into a nationwide lockdown within three days.
She would eventually get to stay in a room at the residence of the consular general and his wife for six weeks while a repatriation flight for another 27 Indonesians stranded in South Africa was arranged. Indonesia's diplomats around the world have been working behind the scenes, offering aid to nearly half a million of its citizens stranded abroad during the pandemic.
But most of the 9 million Indonesians working overseas are doing so illegally,making it tough to track them down. During Malaysia's 13-week lockdown, which ended on June 9,Indonesia's embassy in Kuala Lumpur resembled a logistics centre dealing with a humanitarian crisis, Indonesian diplomats said.