Indonesia apologizes to Malaysia for immigrants

Indonesia apologizes to Malaysia for immigrants

Agence France Presse, Kuala Lumpur

The Indonesian government has apologized to Malaysia for problems caused by illegal immigrants after a riot by more than 1,600 Indonesians at a detention center here, reports said Monday.

Indonesia's Manpower and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nua Wea said his government was saddened by last Tuesday's incident where four blocks of the detention center were burnt to the ground, The Star reported.

"The rioting and arson at the depot was the third involving Indonesians and I hope it will not recur," he said during a mass deportation of some 2,400 illegal immigrants Sunday.

The deportation followed the repatriation last week of 1,618 of the Indonesian detainees who were involved in the riot. Immigration officials here said the frequency of the deportation exercises would be further increased.

"We have been soft for too long," Immigration Department director Mohd Jamal Kamdi said.

The Indonesian minister told reporters he hoped the government understood that the Indonesians were not in Malaysia to create trouble, but had come looking for jobs.

Indonesia, he said, had one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, with about 36 million jobless people.

Malaysian Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn was quoted on Monday as saying the government planned to reduce the country's dependence on foreign workers, who accounted for the outflow of about five billion ringgit (US$1.3 billion) a year.

"If one million workers send home an average of 5,000 ringgit ($1,320) each year, the total sum leaving the country comes to 5 billion ringgit," he said.

Malaysia announced last month it would cut the permit period for all foreign workers except domestic helpers from six or seven years to three years, in an effort to cut reliance in foreign labor.

The government has also said it plans to send about 10,000 Indonesian illegal immigrants home each month, saying there were about 450,000 in the country.

Malaysia is home to about 600,000 legal foreign workers as well as tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, who are said to have contributed to a growth in crime and other social problems and also to the spread of diseases and squatter colonies.