Indonesia to sue Malaysian employers

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris said over the weekend that the government has hired Malaysian lawyers to sue Malaysian companies that are allegedly withholding the salaries of Indonesian workers.

"The Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has hired five professional lawyers to represent the Indonesian government and the workers to sue Malaysian employers who have allegedly withheld their Indonesian employees' salaries," he said after the inauguration of a labor housing complex in Serang Baru township, Bekasi, West Java.

Fahmi said he would leave for Kuala Lumpur on Monday to discuss the government's new move with Malaysian home affairs minister Azmi Khalid.

"We appreciate the Malaysian government's action to call on its companies employing illegal immigrants to send them back home and pay their salaries, but it has not been effective. Besides, Malaysian authorities have apparently failed to impose its harsh immigration law against Malaysian companies employing illegal foreign immigrants," he said.

The minister argued that most Indonesian immigrants working illegally in Malaysia could not return home, despite the amnesty offered by the Malaysian government, as their salaries have been withheld by their employers.

The government has urged Malaysian authorities to be fair in enforcing the harsh immigration law by taking action against illegal immigrants and their employers. Vice President Jusuf Kalla has asked Malaysia to be realistic about the issue, since Malaysian companies would be facing a shortage of workers if the Indonesian workers were deported.

Following the end on Jan. 31 of the three-month amnesty program, Malaysia has suspended a major raid on illegal immigrants amid fears that it could lead to human rights violations and to the arrest of numerous Malaysian employers.

Police and civilian volunteers have been deployed to companies, construction projects and plantations believed to have employed illegal workers, but there has been no mass exodus of illegal immigrants from the country to Indonesia. In fact, some 400,000 Indonesian immigrants continue to work in Malaysia.

More than 90 Indonesian workers employed in two construction projects in Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur, have hired a Malaysian lawyer to sue their employers for withholding their salaries.

Lukman, one of the workers, said they have no money to return home as their salaries had not been paid for many months.

"The workers are employed by Sri Jaya Bhd and Plato Construction Bhd in Damansara, Petaling Jaya. We must not be blamed for our illegal status here, because actually we want to take advantage of the amnesty, but we are blocked by our employers who have withheld our salaries," he said.

Many workers who recently arrived home have expressed their reluctance to return to Malaysia, citing abuse and their employers' refusal to pay their salaries.

They said they had succeeded in fleeing from their workplaces with the help of third parties, including their colleagues.