Biting the hand that feeds you

Suhaini Aznam, The Star, Asia News Network, Selangor, Malaysia

The reaction in Indonesia has been extreme. Three Indonesian dailies carried the story of illegal workers in Malaysia not being paid their salaries on their front pages.

Media Indonesia claimed that 90 illegal workers hired by a housing developer had not been paid a total of RM152,000 in back wages.

The Republika cited 1,200 illegal immigrants in Gombak, 700 in Batu Lancang and 90 more working at the housing project. All claimed to have been cheated.

The last group, which was given meal allowance but not wages, has written to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and also made a police report.

Indonesia intends to sue Malaysian bosses, who have failed to pay their illegal workers.

Media Indonesia cited Indonesian Manpower Minister Fahmi Idris as also criticizing the enforcement of Malaysian immigration laws, with little action being taken against employers.

"We ask that equal penalty be meted out to illegal immigrants and the Malaysian companies who recruit them," he was quoted as saying, referring to provisions for jail sentences and whipping of illegals.

But that seems to deflect the point of the just-concluded amnesty exercise.

While it is a violation for employers to hire illegal workers and certainly wrong for some companies to cheat their workers, the illegal immigrants broke the law by "smuggling" themselves into Malaysia, in the first place.

Indonesia has engaged Malaysian lawyers to ensure that errant Malaysian employers pay their workers' wages.

And indeed, the employers should pay, all the more so when an amnesty -- the deadline of which has been already postponed thrice -- will not go on.

We cannot condone the action of employers, who have used the amnesty as an excuse to deny their workers their dues.

The Malaysian Employers Federation itself wants employers to settle up. Plus, there are official channels to pursue the matter -- the Human Resources Ministry, and also the Home Ministry.

So litigation at this stage seems an over reaction.

The Indonesian media seems to be taking a swipe at Malaysia for a deeper reason -- that Malaysia has sent back 380,000 illegal workers, with an estimated 400,000 more still here.

While it is true that Malaysia relies on migrant labor to work its plantation and construction sectors, should not Indonesia -- and for that matter, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India and other labor exporting countries -- control the outflow of their labor so that they will not burden the host country?

And in the final analysis, the onus of resolving unemployment actually falls on the Indonesian government itself.

Malaysia has thrice postponed the repatriation of illegal workers at the personal request of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

In this instance, would not a polite request by one leader to the other have sufficed?

Especially given that the last two postponements have been extended to all illegal immigrants, even though the ones affected by the tsunami are from Aceh alone.

If Malaysia had really wanted to be mean and nitpick, it could have gone after all those Indonesians who were not from Aceh. Instead the battle is being fought in the media.

Malaysia is not the enemy. In fact, it was the first to arrive with aid for the tsunami victims.

Given its linguistic similarities, other international aid organizations sought Malaysia's help for translations.

And today, Malaysia wants to help rebuild Banda Aceh, in accordance with the Indonesian government's architectural preferences.

So, why the harsh words? Is this the Asian way -- to bite the hand of friendship?