By 
Hanif Ardiningrum Khansa
David Kristianto via Unsplash, July 30, 2024.
Soleh Darmawan went to Cambodia for a cooking job–but was forced into online gambling, then found dead. His mysterious death exposes the brutal reality for 80,000 undocumented Indonesian workers trapped in Cambodia’s shadow economy.
When Soleh Darmawan left Bekasi, his town in Java Island, for a job as a cook in Cambodia, he expected hard work–not forced organ harvesting. During his first days of working, Soleh’s family learned that he was assigned as an online gambling operator in Poipet instead. Diana, his mother, became suspicious of Soleh’s health worsening when he started appearing pale and not responding consciously when they were having video calls. On March 3rd, Soleh’s co-worker found him dead in their rented room and the death certificate sent by the Indonesian Embassy stated that he died from gastrointestinal bleeding (Tempo, 2025).
Soleh’s story has certainly become the face of a crisis engulfing undocumented Indonesian workers in Cambodia. These invisible labourers–many recruited through social media scams–form the backbone of Cambodia’s construction boom and casino industry, yet remain unprotected by labour laws. Soleh’s ordeal, now a rallying cry for labour activists, epitomises the dangers faced by 80,000+ undocumented Indonesian workers trapped in Cambodia’s shadow economy, where illegal employment often escalates to trafficking, violence, and even organ theft (VOI, 2025).
One of the root problems is the fact that the business has been illegal due to the lack of an agreement between Indonesia and Cambodia regarding the placement of Indonesian migrant workers (Antara, 2025). This has resulted in the lack of legal protection and clear regulation of the employment of migrant workers between the two countries. The absence of agreement has created an attractive gap for a black market, considering the intensive business activities between Indonesia and Cambodia.
The case has forced uncomfortable reckonings in both nations. Indonesia’s Minister of Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (P2MI) has pledged to overhaul migrant worker protections. Moreover, a meeting between the high-ranking Indonesian police delegation and the Cambodian National Police’s INTERPOL team was conducted in early April. This meeting was aimed at developing the existing 2023 memorandum of understanding and discussing collaboration in preventing and combating transnational crimes, particularly cases relating to human trafficking (The Phnom Penh Post, 2025).
Soleh Darmawan’s family in Bekasi now mourns without answers–no autopsy was performed, no clinic was raided. Yet his disappearance into Cambodia’s shadow economy, like so many others, follows a familiar script: the utopian job offer, the vanished passport, the desperate final messages home. Without physical proof but drowning in circumstantial patterns, Soleh’s story slips into the archive of migrant worker cases where justice hinges not on facts, but whether nations choose to see them.
Sources and further readings:
Antara News. (2025, April 18). At least 80,000 Indonesians working illegally in Cambodia: Minister.
VOI. (2025, April 17). Migrant worker’s death exposes Cambodia’s shadow economy.
The Phnom Penh Post. (2025, April 11). Cambodia, Indonesia leveling up law enforcement cooperation.
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