Indonesian workers jailed for 30 months in KL<\/p>\n
Agencies, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A Malaysian court sentenced on Monday four Indonesian migrant
\nworkers to 30 months each for their involvement in a violent
\nprotest over drug testing in the Nilai industrial estate in
\nNegeri Sembilan state on Jan. 17.<\/p>\n
Bernama quoted the court as saying that Sedarmin Pinem, 22,
\nAbdul Rahman Kassim, 24, Kaswandi Kurdi, 26, and Tambar Ukur
\nGinting, 25, all workers in a textile company, were proven guilty
\nof attacks on a number of state-owned vehicles, a crime which
\ncarries a maximum jail term of five years.<\/p>\n
The news agency reported that the four defendants pleaded
\nguilty.<\/p>\n
The four were part of a group of 15 Indonesians arrested and
\nbrought to justice following the rioting in Nilai.<\/p>\n
Another stampede took place three days after the Nilai
\nincident, when some Indonesian 70 construction workers ran amok
\nat Cyberjaya south of Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n
Tension has been escalating between the two neighboring
\ncountries after Malaysia sought the deportation of some 450,000
\nIndonesian workers following the incidents.<\/p>\n
To ease the strained relations, President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri sent Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril
\nIhza Mahendra for a talk with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
\nover the weekend.<\/p>\n
A group of six House of Representatives legislators led by
\nDeputy Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar left on Monday for Malaysia, to
\nmeet with members of the Malaysian parliament over the mass
\ndeportation issue.<\/p>\n
Yusril said after a 10-minute meeting with Mahathir that
\nMalaysia would only deport illegal Indonesian workers and would
\nallow legal ones to stay in the country.<\/p>\n
Apparently confirming Yusril's statement, a Malaysian official
\nsaid on Monday his government remained undecided about a plan to
\ninclude legal migrant workers on the list of deportees.<\/p>\n
"For the moment, the illegal (Indonesian) workers will be sent
\nhome. The legal workers' (matter) is not yet decided... the
\npolicy on the whole is to reduce migrant workers from Indonesia,"
\nthe Malaysian Embassy's consul for immigration and labor affairs,
\nMohamad Hamdi, told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Monday.<\/p>\n
Currently, there are approximately 900,000 Indonesian workers
\nregistered in the country, but both the Malaysian and Indonesian
\ngovernments said that Indonesians constituted some 560,000 of
\n769,000 legal foreign workers in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirayuda will lead an
\nIndonesian delegation for talks with his Malaysian counterpart
\nHamid Albar in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 18. Shortly thereafter,
\nMinister for Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea will
\ndepart for Malaysia to meet his counterpart for the same purpose.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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