'KL's call for Malaysians to avoid traveling to RI unwarranted'
'KL's call for Malaysians to avoid traveling to RI unwarranted'
Agencies, Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur
Indonesia, responding quickly on Monday to a call by Malaysia for its nationals to avoid traveling to Indonesia because of public anger over Kuala Lumpur's treatment of illegal Indonesian workers, said the travel advisory was unwarranted.
"Don't travel (to Indonesia) unless it is necessary," Malaysia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Syed Hamid Albar said on Monday, adding that Malaysians should avoid going to any country where "sensitivities or emotions run high, with or without reason".
"I know Indonesia has a lot of attractive places ... but is it worthwhile to be harassed, to be questioned?" the minister said.
Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa told The Jakarta Post that "the statement is unwarranted and is hardly based on an accurate depiction of actual conditions in Indonesia".
Marty said the Indonesian government had found no proof that Malaysian nationals in Indonesia were being threatened or harassed because of the deportation of illegal Indonesian migrants from Malaysia.
Diplomatic relations between the two neighbors -- both are founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- have been strained by the issue of migrant workers.
Malaysia's decision to impose tough new penalties on illegal migrants, including a minimum jail sentence of six months and up to six strokes of the cane, has been criticized widely by human rights organizations. If implemented, dozens of Indonesian workers could be caned.
The Speaker of Indonesia's People's Consultative Assembly, Amien Rais, called the punishment -- which became effective as of July 31 -- "inhumane and insulting".
According to media reports, 19 Malaysians were detained by Indonesian police for six hours for not carrying their passports while in a hotel lobby in Medan, North Sumatra, last Friday.
"The group was only released after being asked to pay the equivalent of about US$20 each, "as a sincere contribution to the Indonesian police", the Malaysian Bernama news agency said.
Many see the incident as retaliation by the Indonesian side, a suspicion that was brushed aside by North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin on Monday.
"It is standard procedure to check up on foreigners, especially when they do not have any identification papers with them," he said
Marty said the incident in Medan was "isolated and unrelated to the issue of migrant workers".
"The two governments have addressed the migrant worker problem and have mutually agreed to find a settlement that satisfies both sides, and that is the actual situation," he remarked.
Syed Hamid also criticized the Indonesian media, saying they were attempting to create a rift between the two governments and were "instigating feelings of anger and hatred toward Malaysia".
"Once the fire of hatred is fanned, it is very difficult to put out," he said.
A rift would be "no good for both countries", he said, adding that Malaysia had contributed to "improving the quality of life for Indonesians" by providing job opportunities.
Illegal Indonesian migrants account for 70 percent of Malaysia's construction industry's 500,000 foreign workers, according to the Master Builders Association of Malaysia.
Separately on Monday, dozens of people from Laskar Merah Putih staged a protest in front of the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, toppling the main gate of the compound.
About 40 demonstrators chanted slogans and set fire to a Malaysian flag, in addition to tearing down the gate.
Police stopped the protesters from entering the grounds, and representatives of the group later handed over a letter of protest to an embassy official.
The letter demanded that no Indonesian illegal workers in Malaysia be caned.
It also threatened to open a "Crush Malaysia" front similar to the one founding president Sukarno provoked during his military confrontation with Malaysia in the mid-1960s.