REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The government has claimed that it had saved at least 190 Indonesian citizens facing death sentence overseas through legal actions.

"I need to assert here that protection to Indonesian citizens, especially migrant workers abroad, is provided through not only legal procedures, but also efforts taken up to the fullest extent possible," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced when delivering the state-to-the-nation address at the Parliament Building here on Friday.

The head of state noted that on several occasions, he had sent private letters in his capacity as the President of Indonesia to several heads of state and government to free Indonesian citizens of charges, mitigate the size of their punishment, or postpone their death penalty.

"In short, the free and active diplomacy will always be dedicated to national interests and will always strive to promote peace and international cooperation, and will continually struggle to protect our citizens abroad," he noted.

According to him, Indonesian migrant workers constituted important parts of the Indonesian diaspora, and protection to migrant workers who have been considered "heroes of foreign exchange" remained a priority of the Indonesian diplomacy.

Indonesian citizens abroad were not only affected by the vulnerability of their working condition but also by political instability and natural disasters, he added.

In 2013, no less than 40,000 Indonesian citizens abroad had been rescued and returned to the country from a number of life-threatening situations.

President Yudhoyono delivered the annual state-to-the-nation-address in connection with the 69th anniversary of Indonesia's Independence, which is celebrated every August 17.

The joint session was attended by members of the House of Representatives (DPR), the Regional Representative Council (DPD), and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

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