Indonesian worker attempts suicide at Malacca seaport
Indonesian worker attempts suicide at Malacca seaport
JAKARTA (JP): An illegal Indonesian worker attempted to hang
herself in a public toilet at the Malaysian port of Malacca on
Saturday night after she failed to obtain a ticket home, Antara
reported on Sunday.
The news agency quoted Heng Kim Yong, a marketing manager of
Tunas Rupat shipping company as saying on Sunday the worker,
identified as Wagini from East Java, was saved by a woman who
went into the toilet to take a bath.
Some Indonesian workers said that Wagini was desperate to
return home after learning that her son was ill. She has been
waiting at the port for two days, it was reported.
Saturday night was the last chance for illegal migrant workers
in Malaysia to return to their home countries without having to
face a penalty.
The Malaysian government announced a two-month amnesty
starting on Aug. 31 to allow illegal immigrants -- mostly workers
-- to return to their home countries. Normally they would be
fined RM 3,000 (US$750) or jailed.
About 130,000 illegal immigrants have returned home during the
two-month amnesty period which was to have ended on Saturday.
Of those, 104,000 were Indonesians and the rest mostly from
the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar, according to
Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Tajol Rosli Ghazali.
Antara said ferry operators at the port had been asked to run
extra boats to the port of Dumai in Riau, Sumatra, to carry home-
bound Indonesian workers before the amnesty expired.
When rumors circulated that Malaysian police were going to
launch a raid against illegal workers at the port after the
deadline expired a panic ensued, especially among those without a
ticket for the last boat to Dumai.
In the meantime, the Malaysian government announced that the
amnesty had been extended until Nov. 15.
The news agency said the official number of legitimate
Indonesian workers in Malaysia had reached 471,188, but that
number rises to over one million when illegal immigrants are
taken into account.
The agency also observed that the outflow of migrant workers
from the port would subside in the next two days, with an average
of 500 people leaving per day compared to 5,000 in the last week
of October.
The news agency, quoting an employee of the port's immigration
office, said that at least 35,000 workers had been shipped home.
While waiting for their turn to be shipped back, most workers
slept overnight at the port, during which time many fell ill.
Most of the illegal immigrants worked in Malaysia's plantation
and construction sectors.
Many illegal Indonesian workers who feared arrest by Malaysian
police entrusted middlemen to arrange the necessary documents at
the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur and buy them boat tickets
home.
They agreed to meet middlemen at the port, but some of them
had been squarely cheated, the news agency reported.
"I handed RM200 (US$53) to someone who claimed to be close to
the embassy. He was supposed to arrange travel papers and buy me
a ticket. I waited for three days at the port and the man did not
show up," Ali from East Java was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur has put a
special system in place to allow workers to obtain travel papers
easily and for as little as RM40, Antara said. It takes three
days to process the papers. (aan)