Govt blamed for rife smuggling of workers to Malaysia
Govt blamed for rife smuggling of workers to Malaysia
JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Companies Supplying
Indonesian Workers to Malaysia and Singapore (KINAS) has blamed
poor coordination among government offices for the illegal
entries of thousands of Indonesian job seekers into Malaysia.
Association chairman Anthon Sihombing told The Jakarta Post
here on Saturday that government offices in Jakarta and the
provinces, are beset by poor coordination and communication in
their effort to stop Indonesian job seekers from illegally
entering Malaysia.
"Almost every night hundreds of Indonesians leave the eastern
shores of Sumatra for Malaysia illegally and undetected.
Officials learn of this only when their boats capsize," he said.
Last year, the Bara Damai boat sank in rough seas, killing 47
people and leaving another 60 missing. Last month, a similar
mishap occurred off Bagan Siapi-api, North Sumatra, in which five
illegal job seekers drowned and 15 others went missing.
The central government has taken numerous measures to halt the
smuggling of illegal immigrants overseas, but has not been
supported by officials in the provinces and regencies, he said.
"The war against illegal immigrants should involve all related
government agencies, including the navy, police, Ministry of
Transportation and the immigration offices," he said.
Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to fight against the
smuggling of illegal job seekers by providing them with legal
documents so that they will not be exploited by brokers and
employers.
The Malaysian government said recently that 50 percent of the
estimated 400,000 Indonesian people working in Malaysia had
entered illegally, but that most of them had been provided with
legal documents.
The Malaysian government, which closed its borders to illegal
immigrants two years ago, has repatriated around 5,000 illegal
job seekers to Indonesia during the last five months.
The booming Malaysia with its per capita income of around
US$2,900 is wooing job seekers from countries such as Indonesia,
the Philippines, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
30 tables
Anthon said that many Indonesian job seekers take risks and
enter Malaysia illegally rather than bother with the notoriously
complicated immigration procedures.
"Following the legal procedures, a job seeker must go through
30 tables in various government offices to get the necessary
documents. If they choose the illegal way, he/she would have to
pay a relatively small recruitment fee," he said.
He acknowledged that it was difficult to eradicate job-seeker
smuggling, because it was well-organized, involving both
Malaysian and local brokers.
"The smuggling can be stopped only if the government
simplifies the existing procedures, launches information
campaigns in rural areas where most of the job seekers come from
and cracks down on organized syndicates smuggling the job
seekers," he said.
He added that local and Malaysian brokers freely cruise around
the rural areas undetected as they look for workers to be
employed in Malaysia.
He said he supported the current government's move to tighten
control over companies supplying Indonesian workers overseas
because many small manpower supplier companies have illegally
sent workers to achieve greater profits. (rms)