Malaysia to halve number of Indonesian workers<\/p>\n
Agencies, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia plans to reduce by half the number of
\nregistered Indonesian workers here to prevent a repeat of recent
\nriots, officials said Sunday.<\/p>\n
Secretary-General of the Home (Interior) Ministry, Aseh Che
\nMat, said there were currently some 900,000 Indonesian legal
\nworkers, which the government planned to cut down to about
\n450,000.<\/p>\n
Another official report says there are about 740,000
\nregistered foreign workers in Malaysia, including 566,000
\nIndonesians. But an estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants also
\nlive here, often working in low-paid manual labor jobs.<\/p>\n
\"The issue we are facing now is their numbers are too
\nlarge ... if anything (happens) we cannot control them,\" he was
\nquoted by the official Bernama news agency as saying.<\/p>\n
The preventive measure runs alongside the government's
\nannouncement of a temporary ban on hiring new Indonesian workers,
\nfollowing the recent outbreak of riots.<\/p>\n
More than 100 Indonesian workers took part in the Jan. 17
\nunrest, overturning vehicles and pelting police with chairs,
\ntables, bottles and stones.<\/p>\n
Last Sunday, more than 70 Indonesian construction workers
\narmed with machetes went on the rampage at Cyberjaya, south of
\nKuala Lumpur, just three days after some 400 Indonesian textile
\nworkers launched a protest at their factory over drug tests.<\/p>\n
Aseh said the blacklisting of Indonesian workers, who would be
\nplaced as a last option for employment, also meant replacing
\nIndonesians with workers from other countries when their
\ncontracts expired.<\/p>\n
\"New (work) permits will be limited to cases where the
\nemployer cannot hire workers from another country while for
\nIndonesians who have ended their contracts, employers have to
\nreplace them with workers from another country,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Those that want to apply, go ahead ... we put the
\n(Indonesian) workers as a last option.\"<\/p>\n
Following the reduction, he said employers could now take in
\nworkers from Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal,
\nVietnam and Laos, while domestic help could now be hired from Sri
\nLanka.<\/p>\n
Aseh was also quoted as saying Malaysia would not build
\nadditional depots for illegal immigrants as the government
\nplanned to hold deportation exercises daily.<\/p>\n
\"We have long started to send them home, and right now we are
\ndeporting them every day.<\/p>\n
\"We do not want to hold them for long as this is a burden. We
\nhave to pay for their meals and also their transportation costs,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Saturday he would not bow
\nto appeals from Jakarta in reversing the temporary ban.<\/p>\n
Mahathir said Malaysia did not need to take in any more
\nIndonesians as the country already had a surplus of foreign
\nworkers.<\/p>\n
\"In fact, we have more than enough, what more with those
\nentering the country illegally,\" he was quoted as saying by the
\nNew Straits Times.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Vice President Hamzah Haz on Friday said the
\ngovernment would try to appeal against the ban.<\/p>\n
\"We need to approach Malaysia because it is our neighbor and
\nwork opportunities are great there,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, prosecutors will charge 15 Indonesians with rioting
\nand illegal assembly after workers clashed with police, news
\nreports said Sunday.<\/p>\n
Malaysia's attorney general decided to level the charges after
\nstudying evidence from the clash, according to reports in the
\nSunday Star and New Sunday Times newspapers.<\/p>\n
Rioting is punishable by up to two years in prison, while
\nillegal assembly carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail.<\/p>\n
Four of the workers face an additional charge of causing
\nmischief during a riot, which is punishable by a maximum five-
\nyear prison sentence, the papers reported.<\/p>\n
It was not immediately clear why the 15 were being charged,
\nsince 129 other Indonesian workers allegedly involved in the
\nfactory riot have already been deported without being brought to
\ntrial.<\/p>\n
Phones at the attorney general's chambers rang unanswered
\nSunday.<\/p>",
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