Another regional headache<\/p>\n
Now that our economic crisis has started to spill over into
\nneighboring countries, the government is facing another problem
\nwith not only a regional but also a global impact.<\/p>\n
Fourteen immigrants from Aceh, in northern Sumatra, forced
\ntheir way into the compound of the UN High Commissioner for
\nRefugees (UNHCR) office in Kuala Lumpur yesterday asking for
\nprotection. The 14, of the same origin as the immigrants who
\nreportedly incited a riot in the Semenyih camp near the Malaysian
\ncapital last week, also oppose the Malaysian government's policy
\nof repatriating them. They claim they are political refugees and
\nhave expressed their fear of being executed once they arrive back
\nin Aceh, where they say an armed struggle by separatist rebels is
\nongoing and they are likely to be accused of being part of it.<\/p>\n
However, as far as the Malaysian authorities are concerned,
\nthe immigrants' fate back home is not their business, especially
\nafter Jakarta assured them that the situation in Aceh is under
\ncontrol. A more serious problem for Kuala Lumpur -- as it does
\nnot see the illegal immigrants as political refugees -- is that
\nthe UNHCR has requested Malaysia to give it access to the
\nAcehnese in detention. The UNHCR believes there are 2,000
\nAcehnese asylum seekers in Malaysia but its attempts to enter the
\ncamps have thus far been in vain.<\/p>\n
The authorities in Kuala Lumpur are acutely embarrassed by the
\ninflux of waves of illegal immigrants from Indonesia. Since the
\nbeginning of the economic crisis last July, 17,000 have fled to
\nMalaysia. The Kuala Lumpur authorities have been giving the issue
\na very low profile, until the incidents at the Semenyih camp and
\nthe UNHCR office. They have simply repeated their determination
\nto repatriate the immigrants as soon as possible and ordered the
\nMalaysian navy to intensify it patrols to block any efforts by
\nIndonesians to sneak into the country.<\/p>\n
Before the currency crisis hit the region, thousands of
\nIndonesian immigrants were employed in Malaysia, where economic
\ngrowth reached 8 percent until last year. But now that Kuala
\nLumpur is also facing a serious economic crisis itself, it cannot
\ntolerate any more migrants. People has come from as far as
\nBangladesh and Myanmar.<\/p>\n
For Indonesia this problem should be understood as part of the
\nwhole unemployment issue, which cannot be solved only by the
\nministers of social services and manpower. It is a national
\ncrisis, which needs the involvement of the whole government.
\nSince the economic crisis is likely to drag on for years and
\nunemployment will rise and rise, the cure the country needs is
\nnot symptomatic in nature but one that gets to the root of the
\nproblems.<\/p>\n
In the coming months more and more Indonesians will be laid
\noff, and it will soon not only be people from Sumatra who will be
\ncrossing the Strait of Malacca, undergoing any hardship and
\nattempting to evade all legal hurdles because they believe
\nMalaysia is the best place to survive in current circumstances.<\/p>\n
This will of course develop into a serious regional problem.
\nAnd the involvement of the UNHCR, which regards them as asylum
\nseekers, and the reaction from human rights bodies over the
\nrefugees from Aceh, has also made the difficulty an international
\nissue.<\/p>\n
Since this new crisis does not only involve Indonesia and
\nMalaysia but also Singapore, into which many Indonesian illegal
\nimmigrants have also tried to enter, and Myanmar, Jakarta should
\nsuggest setting up a regional body to discuss the core of the
\nproblem and try to solve it together with our neighbors. Any
\nfailure to tackle the issue properly will further tarnish our
\ncountry's image in international eyes.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, what the government should do now is guarantee the
\nsafety of the illegal immigrants sent back by Malaysia in line
\nwith the peaceful conditions it says exist in Aceh at present.
\nThis would be a good first step to make the world believe it is
\nindeed sincere.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/another-regional-headache-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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