Deportees offered resettlement schemes
Ridwan Max Sijabat and Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is offering a resettlement program for illegal migrant workers who are not eligible for employment in Malaysia.
Director General of Demographic Mobility at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry Dyah Paramawatiningsih said here on Monday her office would open special counters in 12 seaports to register illegal migrants who wish to join the resettlement program.
"The offer is intended for those who are unlikely to go back to Malaysia due to age, competence or administrative reasons," she told a press conference after a meeting with officials from other related ministries.
The resettlement program is seen as an alternative solution for the government which has been seeking to helping an estimated 800,000 illegal workers set to leave Malaysia in the next three months.
Some 300,000 of the 800,000 illegal workers are expected to accept the amnesty Malaysian authorities have offered until Nov. 14 in connection with the Idul Fitri celebration.
Djoko Sidik Pramono, the director general for empowerment of human resources in resettlement areas at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, said the government was ready to accept the migrant workers at nine palm oil plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan that could absorb around 22,500 families.
"Those who do not have the chance to return to Malaysia and who do not have land in their home villages will be encouraged to join the resettlement program," he said.
Djoko estimated the resettlement program would cost a total of Rp 1.6 trillion to construct housing and prepare arable land for palm oil estates for 22,500 families.
The housing construction will require Rp 775 billion, which would be allocated from the ministry's 2005 and 2006 budgets while the oil palm estates will be prepared in cooperation with private investors and state-owned banks, Djoko said.
Thousands of migrant workers deported from Malaysia over the last two years have been resettled in the small-holder palm oil plantations in Natuna, Riau; Sanggau, West Kalimantan, and Nunukan, East Kalimantan.
Dyah said each counter at seaports would be served by around 50 officials.
The seaports where the workers are heading for include Belawan in North Sumatra, Dumai and Kijang in Riau, Tanjung Priok in Jakarta, Tanjung Perak in Surabaya, Nunukan in East Kalimantan and Makassar in South Sulawesi.
Besides offering the resettlement program and job opportunities at state-owned companies, the government will help the workers obtain necessary documents and provide job training for migrant workers who wish to retry their luck in Malaysia.
Dyah conceded the government would be unable to create lucrative job opportunities for the workers.
Open unemployment in the country has reached an alarming level at 10 million.
A labor expert, however, saw the plan as unfeasible, due to the absence of clear criteria for those who could join the program.
"What is the criteria? If the government cannot absorb all the migrant workers, it will only create envy among the workers," Wahyu Susilo of Migrant Care said.
He said resettlement used to involve the use of force.
Wahyu suggested that the government work on the documents of the workers.
"Give them all the necessary documents and let them return to Malaysia, where there is a big demand for Indonesian workers," he said.