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)