For many jobseekers, it's sink or swim in Malaysia

By Ridwan Sijabat

BATAM, Riau (JP): Hundreds of workers are believed to cross into Malaysia illegally each week from this island.

They should consider themselves fortunate. The worst that could happen to them is getting caught by Malaysian patrol boats. Even this is a rare occurrence.

The distance between Batam and the southernmost coast of Johor state in Malaysia can be covered in a matter of 10 to 15 minutes.

Even if they get caught, they would simply be deported back to the island, which means another chance for another attempt.

Many others are not as lucky. Those who cross from a number of points on the eastern coast of Sumatra face greater hazards and risks. There have been cases when their boats capsized because of the heavy load. Since 1989 as many as 5,000 people have perished in the waters of the Malacca straits while attempting to cross into Malaysia.

The operation to send Indonesians into Malaysia from Batam is run by a tightly knit syndicate owned by a powerful local businessman of Bugis origins. He apparently also owns a number of night clubs, massage parlors and discotheques on the island.

Most islanders know about the businessman and the local authority appears to have turned a blind eye. That's how powerful the businessman is.

The big luxury house along a stream in Bengkong Harapan II village attests to his power. It is from this house that he runs his operation, according to local residents.

Every day and night, they keep seeing his bodyguards come in and out of the house, touring the village with hand phones.

Then there are the long houses on stilts by the stream which are believe to accommodate hundreds of workers, mostly from Java, awaiting for their turn to be shipped over to Malaysia.

But for most of the would-be workers, they're not concerned about the legality (or illegality) of the operation. Their chief concern is getting to Malaysia and the syndicate is offering them the chance for a price.

One would-be worker, Panimo, 37, agreed to be interviewed by The Jakarta Post recently about the reason why he wants to go to Malaysia.

He responded with a cliche that most others like him would have said -- for financial reasons.

"We have no other alternative. We have no land back home to farm," Panimo said.

Panimo paid Rp 800,000 for the entire trip, including the journey from his home village in East Java to here, and the promise that a work permit will be arranged by the syndicate.

He said he left his wife and two children in Sidoarjo village, Banyuwangi regency, East Java in the hope of finding a job and earning an income in Malaysia on the same path of some of his fellow villagers.

He said a number of villagers have been so successful that they returned with enough money to buy houses, cars and farmland after spending two to three years in Malaysia.

"Rather than staying in the village and doing nothing for life, it is better for me to follow my friends and make money in Malaysia," he said.

But why take the illegal way and risk being deported when he could have traveled the legal way?

To this question, he responded: "All the other people who have gone to Malaysia have taken this way."

He conceded that he was not aware of any other way, including the legal way.

Mohammad Abdullah, 30, from Jakarta, was one of the workers sent by the syndicate to Malaysia. He was recently deported after working there two years. Now he is hoping to return there.

He knows that his presence in Malaysia was illegal but found the cost of doing it the legal way too much for him and too time consuming. The two years he spent in Malaysia gave him confidence that he could elude the authorities.

Anthon Sihombing, chairman of the Indonesian Association of companies supplying workers to Malaysia and Singapore (KINAS), said Indonesians who work illegally in Malaysia open themselves up to being widely exploited by their employers.

Because of their illegal immigrant status, they are likely to be underpaid and are denied basic workers' rights.

Anthon, in a recent interview with the Post in Jakarta, said that the government should simplify the procedures for workers, or their manpower supplier agencies, to obtain the necessary legal papers and cut down on the number of illegal Indonesian migrants to Malaysia.