Indonesian officials need to get their act together

Indonesian officials need to get their act together

V.K. Chin, The Star, Asia News Network, Selangor, Malaysia

The campaign to get the Indonesian workers to return to
Malaysia on a fast-track basis seems to have hit a snag.

Instead of tens of thousands of them coming back as legal
workers in a matter of weeks if not days, it may be some time
before this will happen.

The delay is puzzling as both governments were quite
determined to smoothen the process at the recent meetings between
leaders of the two countries.

Jakarta has promised full co-operation in providing all the
necessary facilities so that those Indonesians who left Malaysia
as illegal immigrants could return with the proper documents for
them to earn a living.

Tens of thousands of them took up the government's amnesty
offer, which expired on Feb. 28, before the crackdown on the
illegal immigrants.

As a carrot, they were told that their applications would be
speeded up for them to resume work here if they left voluntarily.

Unfortunately, this is not happening and the hold-up is
naturally causing concern for the Malaysian government, the
employers and the affected Indonesians who are waiting anxiously
at home to be re-employed.

It is obvious that the decisions made at the top were not
being implemented at the ground level in the Republic.

Malaysian officials had expected a rush for applications and
11 centers were set up in Indonesia to meet this eventuality.

Instead the 50-odd immigration officers are sitting there with
nothing to do and this situation should not be allowed to
continue for long without long-term effects on the Malaysian
economy, not to mention bilateral relations.

The hitch appears to be the formation of an Indonesian
consortium to handle all applications from Indonesians wishing to
rejoin their employers in Malaysia.

It is only with the consortium's approval that the applicants
could make a formal application to the Malaysian Immigration
officials based there for the work permit so that they could
start their return journey.

It is unclear what is holding things up at the consortium and
it is up to the Indonesian government to look into this as
quickly as possible as the long wait is not doing anybody any
good.

Malaysian employers will not be able to carry on with their
operations while the Indonesians unable to find work will face
difficulties looking after themselves and their families, while
Jakarta will lose valuable foreign exchange.

The government and employers can only wait so long for the
return of the Indonesian workers and if the situation should
remain the same, then it will be necessary to look for labor
alternatives to fill the vacancies.

Once this decision is made, the employment door will most
probably be closed for the Indonesians and this will be a matter
of regret for both sides.

If some Indonesian officials should feel that they could use
pressure on Malaysia for whatever reason, then they would be
doing their country and fellow countrymen a great disservice.