Business booms for Nunukan islanders

Business booms for Nunukan islanders

Fitri Wulandari and Tertiani Z.B. Simanjuntak, Nunukan, East Kalimantan

"Has your passport been sorted out?" asks the owner of a store in
downtown Nunukan Island of anyone whom she believes does not
belong to the island, Indonesian migrant workers in particular.

Her inquiry, warm though it may sound, is far from an
expression of sympathy for undocumented Indonesian migrant
workers who flocked to the island after Malaysia imposed a tough
new immigration law last month. In fact, the store owner, like
many other inhabitants of the island, has been benefiting from
the presence of migrant workers by offering a variety of
services, from passport processing to providing accommodation.

Located in the easternmost tip of East Kalimantan in the
border of the Malaysian state of Sabah, Nunukan island, the
capital of Nunukan regency, has become a favorable transit point
for job seekers from East Java, Sulawesi and the Nusa Tenggara
islands.

The island's population is less than 22,000 and the arrival of
migrant workers, whose number is three times that of the locals,
has overwhelmed the island.

Even before the influx of the migrant workers, Nunukan was not
a very impressive town. The arrival of the migrants has simply
worsened the town's dull and chaotic appearance. Now it is simply
packed with people. Everywhere you go, there are people, young,
old, women, men and children, those 17,600 migrant workers still
waiting to have their documents processed before returning to
Malaysia.

The coastal town, which is hot at the best of times, has
become unbearably hot with the presence of workers who fill the
houses of local residents, vacant buildings, makeshift tents,
fields and markets. Many even occupy the fish market, looking
really miserable.

Despite the problems, the islanders have benefited from the
presence of the job seekers. For decades, locals have run
businesses that cater for the migrant workers. The number of
hotels and inns, restaurants and public transportation vehicles
has continued to rise, at a rate faster than the rate of growth
in any other sector. These businesses have become the second-
largest source of revenue for the young regency.

Many islanders also work as middlemen to help migrant workers
obtain an ID card issued by the local administration. Others
specialize in obtaining a special identity card for Indonesian
migrant workers, known as a KITKI.

Others still arrange passports or short-time travel documents,
even though they are not authorized to do so. Providing
transportation for workers to the city of Tawau in Sabah is
another lucrative business, as is the processing of job
contracts, either through Indonesian manpower supply companies
(PJTKIs) or their counterparts in Malaysia. Those with sufficient
capital run mobile money exchange services, as Malaysia does not
accept the Indonesian rupiah.

Business thrives on Nunukan mainly because most of the
inhabitants are from the Bugis tribe of South Sulawesi or people
from the Nusa Tenggara islands. Both are known to be pioneers in
starting and running risky businesses, including smuggling.
Indeed, they effectively dominate the informal sector.

The Bugis and Nusa Tenggara people account for nearly half of
the total 38,387 population of the island. The island's
indigenous people, the Tidung tribespeople, make up less than 3
percent of the population.

Prior to 1999, the area that today makes up Nunukan regency --
the land area in northern East Kalimantan and Nunukan island --
belonged to Bulungan regency.

Nunukan island lies to the south of the Sipadan and Ligitan
islands, whose ownership is contested by Malaysia and Indonesia.
During Indonesia's confrontation with Malaysia in the early
1960s, Nunukan played a critical role. It served as the first
line of defense for the Indonesian Navy.

Nunukan regency covers a total area of 14,585.70 square
kilometers. It has five districts, Nunukan, Krayan, Lumbis,
Sebakung and Sebatik. Nunukan island is located close to Sebatik
island, which belongs to both Indonesia and Malaysia.

The regency is among the least developed regions in the
country. Only few of the residents have a university education,
as most feel a high school education suffices.

In 2000, Nunukan had an annual budget of Rp 46.5 billion
(US$5.2 million), which was mainly derived from East Kalimantan's
tax revenue from the oil and gas industries. Last year the
regency's revenue, mainly from tax, stood at Rp 600 million.

As capital of the regency, the 21,450-square-kilometer island
is the main gate to neighboring Tawau in Sabah. Rather than
shopping at East Kalimantan's Tarakan island, Nunukan residents
prefer to go to Tawau by boat. A trip to Tawau costs only Rp
50,000 per person, although travelers have to obtain beforehand a
special passport (border crossing pass, or PLB) to cross the
border.

Malaysian businesspeople, meanwhile, use Tunontaka harbor, the
island's main and official port, to take a small plane to the
East Kalimantan capital, Samarinda, or the affluent Bontang
region to play golf.

The significance of the island can be traced back to 1938 when
the Bugis and Nusa Tenggara people, mainly from Flores, first
used the island as a transit point before entering Tawau to trade
spices and cocoa. The British government then employed them to
work in the cocoa or rubber plantations in Sabah. Many of the
pioneer workers settled in Sabah.

The three-year work contract issued by the British attracted
other migrant workers from other parts of Indonesia, including
those from East Java, to try their luck in the "adjacent
village".

In recent years, things have changed and it is not as easy as
before to find work in Malaysia. However, with many of the Bugis
and Nusa Tenggara people now living in Sabah, new job seekers
find it hard to believe that the old days are really gone. And if
things get rough, a short cut is available: bribery.

As a result, job seekers pay more money to get a job contract
in Malaysia. This is due to, among other things, the
establishment in 1993 of PJTKIs to organize the migrant workers.
Each step workers have to go through before securing a job costs
money. A 24-page passport officially costs Rp 115,000, but via
PJTKI agents the cost may rise to Rp 1 million. This practice has
been going on for decades and explains the high number of
undocumented workers. Why go through PJTKIs when there are
easier, cheaper ways?

Many job seekers then resort to illegal means and go to
Malaysia without passports or work permits. They only have to pay
the cost of travel from their village. As long as the problem
remains, Nunukan islanders will continue to benefit from the
situation.