KL extends amnesty for RI illegals

KL extends amnesty for RI illegals

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Malaysia has extended again the amnesty period for hundreds of
thousands of Indonesian migrants working illegally in the country
after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tidal waves that hammered
northern Sumatra and killed tens of thousands of people from
Malaysia to Kenya.

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris told The
Jakarta Post here on Wednesday that Kuala Lumpur had decided to
extend the amnesty period until the end of January.

"The decision was made following talks by telephone with
Secretary General of the Malaysian Home Ministry Datuk Aseh this
morning," he said after a limited Cabinet meeting led by Vice
President Jusuf Kalla at the latter's office.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Najib Razak said
imminent mass deportations would worsen the humanitarian crisis
in countries devastated by tidal waves.

"After receiving a request from Indonesia, in view of the
tsunami and earthquake disaster in Sumatra, and the fact that the
situation there is under a lot of pressure, the Malaysian
government has decided to extend the amnesty period for illegal
workers to leave the country.

"This is because we want to show we sympathize with the
situation faced by the Indonesian government and people. It is
one way to lighten their burden," he said as quoted by AFP.

Indonesians make up the bulk of more than a million illegal
workers in Malaysia, many of them from Aceh province which bore
the brunt of Sunday's earthquake and tsunamis, but Najib said the
amnesty extension would apply to all illegal immigrants.

The Malaysian government had earlier extended the amnesty
period until Dec. 31 to give more time for illegals to return
home and to apply necessary documents to work in the neighbor
country. It previously gave an amnesty period from Oct. 14 until
Nov. 29 to go back to Indonesia to celebrate the idul Fitri
holiday. But so far, less than 100,000 illegal workers returned,
while the remaining 500,000 have been ignoring the amnesty offer.

Spokesman for the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry Hotma
Panjaitan said that the government appreciated Kuala Lumpur's
initiative of offering the deportation suspension out of sympathy
for Indonesia and other affected countries.

"In the next few months, the government will be focusing on
the national disaster -- in which the death toll is predicted to
far exceed 40,000 in Aceh and North Sumatra -- as well as the
rehabilitation of all affected areas," he said, while adding that
Indonesia did not want the deportation to become another major
problem for the government.

Rights groups had urged the Malaysian government to scrap the
planned crackdown on those who have not taken advantage of the
amnesty.

"Deporting migrants to unstable, disaster-stricken areas would
contribute to the humanitarian crisis," Elizabeth Wong, secretary
general for the National Human Rights Group said in a statement
Monday.