Illegal workers returning from Malaysia treated like refugees here
Illegal workers returning from Malaysia treated like refugees here
Moch. N. Kurniawan and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
Illegal Indonesian workers returning from Malaysia and
stranded in border areas like Nunukan in East Kalimantan will be
treated like refugees and receive 400 grams of rice and Rp 1,500
(16.6 U.S. cents) allowance per person from the government daily,
a high-ranking official said.
The directorate general for social assistance at the Ministry
of Social Affairs Sumarjati Arjoso said on Friday that such
treatment would last for one month and did not apply to workers
who took direct journeys to their home villages.
"We (central government) will try to do our best to serve
workers returning from Malaysia who can't afford to go back
home," she told The Jakarta Post after a coordination meeting
with officials from other related institutions including the Navy
and the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration.
For most people here, however, the Rp 1,500 allowance is only
enough to buy one-half liter of bottled mineral water.
Such treatment may further draw criticism as the government
was previously deemed to have made sluggish efforts in its
handling of the problem of the 480,000 illegal Indonesian.
The government has reportedly encouraged the illegal workers
to return home at their own expense.
Some of the illegal workers in West Malaysia are able to
finance their trips, but many in East Malaysia apparently cannot.
The government has been criticized for not being concerned for
their welfare, despite their illegal status, as most of them are
among the overseas workers who annually contribute about $500
million per year to the country's economy by sending money back
home to family members.
To this point, some 250,000 illegal workers have returned to
Indonesia, according to Hary Heriawan Saleh, a senior official at
the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration.
However, over 100,000 workers returning from Kuching, Kinabalu
and Tawao in East Malaysia are still stranded in Nunukan.
While they are in transit at the border areas, Sumarjati said
the stranded workers would also be given free medicine and
medical checkups.
"The government will also prepare some tents for the workers
if necessary, but so far local people have allowed them to stay
at their houses," she said.
The official said there were also more than six vessels --
including four from the Navy and the other two from the
government -- to transport the illegal workers but the ships were
only able to carry some 2,000 to return to their home provinces
per trip.
"We'll take care of the workers until they get to their own
province. Then, the provincial officials will take over the
responsibility to handle them," she said.
After their arrival in their home villages, the ministry of
manpower and transmigration will start re-training the workers to
upgrade their skills so that, if they want to work in Malaysia
legally, they have a better chance, she said.
However, it is still unclear as to what programs the
government will provide to improve the workers' qualifications.
In addition to receiving poor treatment at home, Indonesian
workers who are still in Malaysia have reportedly been arrested
by Malaysian Police.
In some areas, local Malaysian police started implementing the
Immigration Act on Thursday, which threatens illegal workers with
serious punishment.
But the arrests should not have occurred, as the Malaysian
government made an 11th hour decision to delay the repatriation
of the illegal immigrants for one month at the request of the
Indonesian government.
Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirayuda called on
the Malaysian immigration office on Friday not to arrest the
Indonesian workers who were slow to comply.
"We ask the Malaysian immigration office not to impose legal
measures against those waiting to go home as we have issued
necessary documents for them," Hassan said.
The minister further said that the Indonesian embassy in
Malaysia had issued 300,000 free documents for the illegal
workers to go home.
He claimed that the government had increased the frequency of
vessels to take the workers out of the neighboring country.
These workers are registered to go home, but we still have
transportation problems, so we expect the Malaysian authorities
to be a little bit more lenient, Hassan said.
"We also ask the Malaysian government to give privileges for
those who would like to return to Malaysia, if their employers
requested as much," the minister remarked.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is scheduled to meet
with President Megawati Soekarnoputri in Jakarta later this month
to discuss, among other items, the illegal Indonesian workers.