Expelled workers vow to return to Malaysia

Expelled workers vow to return to Malaysia

Jupriadi and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Makassar/Medan

Despite the threat of caning, fines and imprisonment, Aco, a 35-
year old Indonesian worker fleeing Malaysia, still dreams of
going back once the situation has returned to normal.

"I will go back to Malaysia sooner or later," Aco told The
Jakarta Post on Thursday in Parepare, South Sulawesi.

Aco is just one of some 10,000 Indonesian workers from
Parepare and surrounding regencies who fled Malaysia after the
country put into effect an immigration law that seeks to punish
foreign laborers working illegally in the country.

He, together with some 2,000 other workers, arrived in
Parepare, about 170 kilometers north of the provincial capital,
Makassar, on July 31.

"Even though the Malaysian authorities have already expelled
me, I will go back," Ako said when asked about his plans for the
future.

Aco said Sabah had become his second home, more than just a
place to earn a living.

"I felt happy there. It is so difficult to forget Sabah. So
despite difficulties, I will definitely go back to Malaysia," he
stressed.

Aco worked on a plantation in Sabah, Malaysia for two years,
earning RM 300 or Rp 850,000 per month, barely enough to support
his wife and two children back home.

Aco said he and his friends were initially very reluctant to
return to Indonesia, thinking that the immigration law was just a
bluff.

"But later the plantation owner got so frightened because both
Indonesian workers and plantation owners would be caned, fined
and imprisoned. We all got so afraid that finally we decided to
leave Malaysia," he said.

Malaysia, home to some 300,000 illegal Indonesian workers, put
into effect on Thursday its new immigration law, which seeks to
cane, fine, and imprison both foreigners working there without
proper documentation and Malaysian employers who hire them.

Aco fled Sabah through Nunukan, East Kalimantan, from where he
and some 2,000 fellow workers took a passenger ship to Parepare.

He is now living with members of his family in Parepare.

"I happen to have family members here. Before going home to
Enrekang, I want to buy some goods as gifts for may family back
home," Aco said.

Unlike Aco, Tahar, 32, a worker from Sinjai, said he would not
return to Malaysia.

"I will not go back to Malaysia; I want stay in Sinjai and do
some farming there," he said.

Tahar said he abandoned his workplace immediately after he
learned that illegal workers would be caned.

"I got so frightened, and everybody was afraid. So, I decided
to return to Indonesia," he said.

"We took all our belongings, including livestock, because we
didn't know if we would ever return (to Malaysia)," he said.

Another worker, Setiadi, who arrived in Belawan, North Sumatra
on Wednesday said that he did not have proper documentation.

"While I was in Malaysia, I had to change my workplace all the
time," said Setiadi, who hails from Kali Angin, Sumenep, Madura,
East Java.

Setiadi, who worked as a freelance furniture maker in East
Java before going to Malaysia, said he decided to take the risk
of entering and working illegally in Malaysia because he had been
unemployed for so long.

"I was jobless for seven years. I could not stand seeing my
wife working as the breadwinner," Setiadi, a father of three,
told the Post in Medan on Thursday.

He said he was once arrested by Malaysian police because he
did not have a work permit.

"We were wrong to work in a foreign country without proper
documentation. The expulsion should be accepted with
forbearance," he said.

Abdaluddin, 32, of Asahan, North Sumatra, said he had to pay
Rp 1.5 million to the owner of the ship that took him illegally
to Malaysia.

He said he entered Malaysia several times illegally, as ship
owners often paid Rp 200,000 to Rp 1,000,000 to coastal security
officers.

"To enter Malaysia, you have to pass nine security posts and
must pay a bribe at each. Otherwise, you would be forced to
return to Indonesia," Abdaluddin said.