Illegals' expulsion 'backfires'

Illegals' expulsion 'backfires'

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

A crackdown that forced tens of thousands of mostly Indonesian
illegal workers out of Malaysia has created a shortfall of cheap
labor in critical industries, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Malaysian officials said bureaucratic bottlenecks at
Indonesian emigration centers charged with providing proper
documentation to Indonesians so they can return to work legally
in Malaysia is endangering its construction and plantation
sectors.

A program allowing Indonesians who left Malaysia under a
recently ended amnesty to legalize themselves in Indonesia has
come to a virtual standstill because of administrative delays
there, The Star newspaper reported.

"I think it is in Indonesia's benefit to facilitate the
workers' return because Malaysia has already done its part.
Otherwise, we may have to source workers from other countries,"
the newspaper quoted the Malaysian Employers' Federation
president, Mohamad Jafar Abdul Carrim, as saying.

No immediate comment from Jakarta on the report was available.

About 450,000 illegal workers are believed to have left
Malaysia during the amnesty period, which ended Feb. 28. An
estimated 400,000 still remain in the country. The amnesty has
been followed by a raid-and-arrest crackdown at work sites, which
has netted nearly 1,000 workers so far.

Foreign workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh
and India form the backbone of Malaysia's construction and
plantation industries, doing low-paid jobs that Malaysians won't
do. About one million of them work legally.

Malaysia has promised to take back workers who left
voluntarily during the amnesty program, provided they come in
with proper papers. As part of a deal with Malaysia, Indonesia
set up one-stop centers to process applications from Malaysian
employers to legalize their former Indonesian employees.

But at one such center in Indonesia not one application has
been approved in the last 10 days, The Star reported.

Home Minister Azmi Khalid and a team of officials are
currently in Jakarta to meet top Indonesian officials to resolve
the problem.

"We acknowledge that there is bottleneck and hope to sort
things out with our counterparts here," Immigration Department
enforcement director Ishak Mohamed was quoted as saying.

Mohamad Jafar of the employers' federation said at least two
main economic sectors - construction and plantations - were
critically hit by the delay in getting the workers back.

"House buyers face not getting their homes delivered on time,
and developers will be liable for not completing their projects
within the stipulated timeframe," he told the newspaper.

Mohamad Jafar said Indonesians made up 90 percent of the labor
force in the construction industry, and between 50 percent and 60
percent on plantations.

Human Resources Minister Foong Chan Onn said Malaysia is
already looking at other sources of labor such as Vietnam,
Thailand and the Philippines.