Jakarta-KL reaching the boiling point

Jakarta-KL reaching the boiling point

Hanys Salmi, Kuala Lumpur

During the past six years, bilateral Malaysia-Indonesia
relations have not shown much progress. In fact, while in the
business sector relations are picking up, in the social/economic
arena, the overall picture is gloomy.

In Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian Prime Minister Abdulah "Pak
Lah" Ahmad Badawi is now very busy with internal affairs while
reconstituting his international image from that of a foreign
minister to that of a Prime Minister. As a result, he does not
seem to have enough time to spearhead the regional initiatives
his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad consistently pushed for. He
simply does not have time to assess the possibility that the
social pressures building up inside his giant neighbor --
Indonesia -- could spill across the Strait of Malacca and disrupt
Malaysia's stability.

In Jakarta, President Megawati Soekarnoputri's shaky
government is busy with presidential election preparations.
Should she be replaced, Indonesia's next leader would need to
spend much of his time pacifying the troubled domestic political
climate and little time would be spared for streamlining
potential factors that could disrupt harmony in relations with
Malaysia.

The biggest bone of contention in bilateral relations is
management of immigrant Indonesian workers. At present, according
to official statistics, there are about 1.5 million foreign
workers in Malaysia, some 1.2 million of whom are Indonesians. Of
these, around 850,000 are illegal workers according to Malaysia's
version, however in Jakarta, officials believe only 650,000 of
them have entered Malaysia without proper immigration documents.

This aspect of bilateral relations was not a troubling issue
when Soeharto and Mahathir were still in power. Their tough
stance on the need to preserve harmony in neighborly relations
seemed to keep such issues from becoming problems. But since they
left office, the situation has changed beyond recognition.

The story began to change during Megawati's term. She was seen
in Malaysia, and the region as a whole, as a weak leader in spite
of her good structural relations with the Indonesian military.
But during her term, we have seen the bilateral Indonesian-
Malaysian relations decline in the socio-economic sector. She has
not been able to set the right tone for proper management of the
issue of Indonesian migrant workers, who are employed in many
business sectors on the peninsula and on Sabah.

One of her administration's successes, however, has been the
signing in Jakarta on May 10 of a new memorandum of understanding
(MOU) by her Labor and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea and
his Malaysian counterpart Fong Chan Oan. Still, this MOU is far
from sufficient in that it does not cater to the real needs in
the field.

The document is too broad in content given that it does not
mention the aspect of legal protection of workers. It only deals
with recruitment, placement and repatriation of workers at the
end of their contracts.

In Malaysia, the government is getting tougher than it ever
has been on that matter. At present, nobody can do anything to
help Indonesian illegal workers get jobs. Malaysian citizens or
foreigners found guilty of protecting illegal immigrants can be
fined 50,000 ringgit and caned six times in public or jailed for
five years.

But the main problems all emanate from Indonesia, not
Malaysia. The government in Jakarta seems to be too lenient and
tolerant toward brokers providing passports to would-be
immigrants to Malaysia.

The regional/provincial chapters of the Indonesian
immigration service are to blame for this. A good number of
companies are acting without any controls as passport brokers at
many points of embarkation. Though they charge workers a good
amount of fees to get passports, the legality of the documents
are always a problem, especially when the workers arrive in
Malaysia.

In Malaysia itself, there have been mixed opinions about its
giant neighbor's reform movement. Some say it is good to imitate
Indonesia's restless adventures, but a great majority of the
population believe that the Malaysian system is already a good
model for the region that other countries can adopt.

But on the political front, there is a growing perception of
the need to retain Malaysia's political identity as a truly
independent nation. Against this light, Malaysia is not willing
to deal with the "dirt" from its neighbor's bad image on such
issues as the fight against terrorism.

Politically therefore, Prime Minister Badawi is likely to
drive Malaysia steadily along this course, and in so doing, he
may not be willing to be too tolerant with Indonesia's socio-
economic burden. And Indonesian politicians have to examine this
trend thoroughly if they wish to turn their country into another
stabilizing factor in the region.

Given those circumstances, Indonesia cannot expect to see
again a tolerant neighbor in Malaysia as it became accustomed to
during Mahathir's time.

The main topic of concern in Malaysia is promotion of
business competitiveness, instead of an over-tolerance of such
production factors as blue-collar workers for which Malaysian
industries can find replacements.

But because of this, a potential for fractures in bilateral
relations is really great now. Frustrated with its poor manpower
management, the Indonesian government may still hope that
Malaysia would forever be a good reservoir to absorb its millions
of unemployed citizens, who have the very minimum of skills.

No, Indonesians must now learn the truth; that unless they
upgrade the quality of their workers, soon it will be very
difficult for them to get jobs in Malaysia. In such a situation,
the warmth in bilateral relations is bound to disappear and
suspicion will replace it.

In Malaysia, people are wondering what would happen if one of
the two retired military generals running for Indonesia's
presidency were to win. If either of them sits in the
presidential chair in Jakarta, the immediate impression would be
that Indonesia would have a strong leadership, perhaps quite
similar to what Soeharto exhibited for 32 years.

The writer is a researcher on Indonesian issues at a Kuala
Lumpur-based company. He can be reached at
hanyssalmi@malaysia.com