Indonesia apologizes for rioting workers in Malaysia<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
On behalf of the government, Minister of Manpower and
\nTransmigration Jacob Nua Wea made an apology to the Malaysian
\ngovernment for the violent riot in which some 400 Indonesian
\nworkers in a textile factory ran amok in a town outside of Kuala
\nLumpur last Thursday, sparked by the arrest of 16 Indonesians on
\nalleged drug charges.<\/p>\n
"The government regrets the incident and we hope the Malaysian
\ngovernment will retract its recent penalty imposed on Indonesian
\nworkers employed in that country because the two countries's
\npeople are brothers," he told The Jakarta Post by telephone here
\non Monday.<\/p>\n
Some 400 Indonesian textile workers staged a violent rampage
\nin protest of the arrests, directing their anger at Malaysian
\npolice. The workers employed by Hualon Corporation SDN Bhd, a
\ntextile industry in Negeri Sembilan state, overturned several
\nvehicles, ransacked facilities at their dormitory and jeered
\nsecurity personnel deployed to handle the angry mob.<\/p>\n
The incident was the fourth of its kind in the last three
\nyears. Previously, in December, hundreds of Indonesian workers
\nburned down a detention camp in Johor as their way of protesting
\ndeportation.<\/p>\n
Another 70 Indonesian construction workers armed with machetes
\nwent on rampage and damaged food stalls run by fellow Indonesians
\nat a Malaysian township late Sunday, police said Monday.<\/p>\n
No injuries were reported in the incident at Cyberjaya, south
\nof the capital, but five food stalls were destroyed, central
\nSelangor state acting police chief Fauzi Saari was quoted by AFP
\nas saying.<\/p>\n
The workers and stall operators were from the Indonesian
\nprovince of Aceh, he said, adding that police had yet to make any
\narrests.<\/p>\n
He said the rampage was triggered by a quarrel between an
\nIndonesian and a Bangladeshi at one of the stalls.<\/p>\n
Police were now monitoring places where there were large
\nnumbers of Indonesian workers, he added.<\/p>\n
Following the (Thursday's) incident, Malaysian Prime Minister
\nMahathir Mohamad has called on Malaysian employers to put
\nIndonesia on the bottom of their lists when recruiting foreign
\nworkers. He said his government would give priority to workers
\nfrom countries other than Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The Malaysian police have arrested at least 28 workers who
\nwere involved in the most recent incident and they are now being
\ninvestigated by police.<\/p>\n
Jacob insisted that the Indonesian government could not
\ninterfere in Malaysian law to provide protection for workers
\narrested because of their involvement in the rampage.<\/p>\n
"Malaysia has its own law, our government cannot interfere
\nwith the Malaysian authorities' investigation into all the
\nsuspects in the incident. But, we do not want the incident to
\ncreate negative impacts for other Indonesian workers employed in
\nthat country and to afflict the two countries' good relations,"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Some 700,000 Indonesian workers are employed in plantation,
\nconstruction, industrial and informal sectors and a part of those
\nworking in the informal sector are employed as domestic helpers.
\nBesides, hundreds of thousands of others who have migrated
\nillegally through the Malacca Strait or the border between
\nKalimantan and East Malaysia, live in that country without any
\nnecessary documents, such as a passport or a working visa.<\/p>\n
Currently some 5,400 Indonesian workers are being detained in
\na number of immigration detention centers in Malaysia for having
\nentered illegally. They are scheduled to be deported to Indonesia
\nby the end of February, 2002, at the cost of the Malaysian
\ngovernment. Malaysian authorities have, in recent years, deported
\ntens of thousands of Indonesian job seekers for similar
\nviolations.<\/p>\n
Indonesian people prefer to work in Malaysia since, in
\naddition to the scarcity of work here and higher wages there,
\nthey have felt that Malaysia is like their "second home" because
\nof the similar race (Malaysia is roughly 60 percent ethnic
\nMalay), language and religion. Many who have stayed for more than
\n10 years in that country have created their own groups such as
\nKampong Jawa and Kampong Madura in Kuala Lumpur and Johar Baru.
\nDuring the New Order era, they also participated in Malaysian
\nelections to support Mahathir's regime.<\/p>\n
Jacob said further he would leave for Malaysia immediately to
\nmeet with his Malaysian counterpart and other officials to
\ndiscuss the incident and the planned deportation of the illegal
\nmigrants to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
He also called on authorities at home to join forces to
\nprevent Indonesian people from migrating to Malaysia illegally
\nbecause such an illegal migration would bring suffering to the
\npeople.<\/p>\n
"Local authorities in regions where job seekers come from and
\nimmigration officers should be selective in giving documents,
\nwhile police and the Navy should net unauthorized brokers who
\nhave smuggled the job seekers in an attempt to minimize the
\nrisk," he said.<\/p>\n
Separately, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda concurred and
\nsaid the trouble should not be extended to other Indonesians
\nemployed in that country.<\/p>\n
"We hope the handling of the riot will be limited only to
\nthose involved in the incident who must accept any possible
\npenalties imposed against them," he said after accompanying UN
\nHuman Rights Commission Chairman Leandro Despouy to meet with
\nPresident Megawati Soekarnoputri at the State Palace on Monday.<\/p>\n
He also hoped the incident would not negatively affect the two
\ncountries' ties.<\/p>",
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