Megawati told to meet Mahathir over workers<\/p>\n
Yogita Tahil Ramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri should speak with Malaysian
\nPrime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to address Malaysia's plan to
\nhalve the number of Indonesians working in the country and its
\nintroduction of a \"hire Indonesian last\" policy, a former
\nmanpower minister said.<\/p>\n
Bomer Pasaribu, who is also the director of the Center for
\nLabor and Development Studies, said on Wednesday that Indonesia
\nneeded to make extra efforts to prevent strained bilateral ties
\nbetween Indonesia and Malaysia, a country that had offered many
\njob opportunities to Indonesian workers.<\/p>\n
\"President Megawati should address the matter personally with
\nPrime Minister Mahathir Mohamad because the livelihoods of
\nhundreds of thousands of Indonesian workers are at stake ... what
\nwill their families eat, when they come back to Indonesia without
\njobs?\" Bomer told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
\"Sending ministers to Malaysia to deal with this messy issue
\nis not going to bring about change. Mahathir himself has been
\naddressing this issue openly to the general Malaysian public and
\nthe media ... he is making the policies. This issue needs to be
\ndealt with at a national level. Megawati needs to address this
\nmatter with him, or risk worsening ties between both nations.\"<\/p>\n
Malaysia has reportedly issued a new policy in regard to
\nIndonesian migrant workers. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister
\nAbdullah Ahmad Badawi said in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday that
\nIndonesians would be hired only as maids and plantation workers
\nin Malaysia. The country has also introduced a \"hire Indonesian
\nlast\" policy under which Indonesian workers will be considered
\nthe last option for other jobs.<\/p>\n
Upon his recent return from Malaysia, Indonesian Minister of
\nJustice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who was sent there
\nby Megawati to discuss the migrant worker issue with Mahathir,
\nassured the general public here that only illegal workers would
\nbe deported by Malaysia.<\/p>\n
However, Mohamad Hamdi, the Malaysian Embassy's consul for
\nimmigration and labor affairs here, said that even though the
\nillegal Indonesian workers would be sent home, the matter of
\nlegal Indonesian workers was \"not yet decided.\"<\/p>\n
Bomer admitted that the sensitive migrant worker issue would
\nbe an extremely tough job to try and \"smooth over\" at this point.<\/p>\n
\"Megawati is the President ... as the nation's leader she
\nshould at least try to speak with Mahathir,\" he reiterated.<\/p>\n
Malaysia, one of the wealthiest countries in Southeast Asia,
\nalso stated on Tuesday that it would whip illegal immigrants and
\ntheir employers to deal with the growing problem of foreign
\naliens.<\/p>\n
Bomer said that the Indonesian government needed to realize
\nthat the country's severe employment crisis and the migrant
\nworker issue would eventually lead to the explosion of a social
\ntime bomb.<\/p>\n
\"It is my estimation that some 42 million out of our potential
\nworkforce of 102 million people will be unemployed. Can you
\nimagine that,\" Bomer said.<\/p>\n
Official figures, Bomer said, may state that some 900,000
\nIndonesians were working in Malaysia, but his estimate based on
\nstudies conducted by his Center for Labor and Development Studies
\nsaid there were some 1.5 million Indonesians, if not more,
\nworking there.<\/p>\n
Bomer added that both Indonesia and Malaysia should address
\nthe mafias in each country that handled the inflow of illegal
\nworkers into Malaysia. Indonesia had to stress that Malaysia had
\nevery right to legally punish Indonesians found guilty of
\nbreaching the laws of Malaysia, he said.<\/p>\n
A Malaysian court sentenced four Indonesian migrant workers to
\n30 months in jail each on Monday, for their involvement in a
\nviolent protest over drug testing in the Nilai industrial estate
\nin Negeri Sembilan state, on Jan. 17.<\/p>\n
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea
\nexpressed confidence on Wednesday that the Malaysian government
\nwould not deport all Indonesian workers there, stating that such
\na policy would inflict losses on Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Malaysia, he said, was in need of affordable workers in large
\nnumbers to man factories and plantations there.<\/p>\n
\"I agree with Malaysia's plan to send back 5,400 illegal
\nIndonesian workers. But I appeal to Malaysia not to send back the
\nhundreds of thousands of others who have done no wrong. It will
\ncost the Malaysian government dearly, paying to send back all
\nthese people,\" he told reporters after the meeting with host
\ncountry representatives.<\/p>",
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