Labor exporters skeptical of amnesty extension
Ridwan Max Sijabat , The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Malaysia's decision to extend the amnesty for Indonesian illegals to Dec. 31 will not be effective in encouraging them to return home if the neighboring country fails to take action against employers who withhold the migrants' documents and salaries, labor exporters say.
Meanwhile, Indonesia and Malaysia agreed on Thursday to take whatever measures were necessary to help the illegals return home without having to go through complicated procedures.
Yunus Yamani, chairman of the Indonesian Labor Suppliers Association (Himsataki), said both Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur had misidentified the core problem as to why most of the illegal migrants employed in Malaysia had not responded to the amnesty offer.
"So far, only around 100,000 migrants, some of them legal ones, have returned home while the remaining 600,000 are unable to as their salaries are being withheld by their employers and they have been intimidated into not leaving their workplaces," he said.
According to Yunus, the Indonesian government has to simplify the complicated procedures for people seeking jobs overseas, cut the cost of obtaining the necessary documents and punish corrupt officials and those extorting workers.
"Besides, the government should be proactive in disseminating information about Malaysia's plan to crack down on the illegals after the amnesty comes to an end," he said.
The United States-based Human Right Watch recently reported abuses against 1.2 million illegal migrants in Malaysia, mostly from Indonesia, in their workplaces by their employers. They are employed more than eight hours a day and seven days a week, their salaries are withheld and they are employed without any social security protection.
Husein Alaydrus, chairman of the Indonesian Labor Exporters Association (Apjati), said the poor response from illegal Indonesian migrants to the amnesty would make it difficult for the Indonesian government during the upcoming negotiations with Malaysia on the recruitment of migrant workers, as Indonesia would focus on how to bring the undocumented migrants home.
In observance of the Idul Fitri holiday, Malaysia offered illegal workers amnesty in exchange for their voluntary exit from the country. The offer had originally been set to expire on Nov. 14, but Kuala Lumpur agreed to extend it until Dec. 31 due to the large number of undocumented Indonesian workers in the country.
Following a bilateral meeting with Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris at the latter's office, Malaysian home minister Dato Azmi Khalid said his government would give special treatment to illegal workers who faced problems in leaving his country and would take resolute action against Malaysian employers found guilty of withholding their workers' wages.
"We will help workers whose salaries are withheld and those who are frightened to leave our country. We will call on employers to let their illegal workers leave the country freely," he said.
Azmi, who was accompanied by Director General of Immigration Dato Jamal Khamdi and several other Malaysian officials, said further that the Malaysian government would simplify the application procedures for working visas so as to encourage foreigners to enter Malaysia legally.
Fahmi said that besides simplifying the official procedures for taking up work overseas, his ministry in cooperation with the police and the Navy would crack down on what are locally-known as tekongs (labor brokers), who smuggled illegal workers into Malaysia from the Riau archipelago and West and East Kalimantan.
He said the government had begun pilot projects in Jakarta, Batam (Riau), Nunukan (East Kalimantan), and Mataram (West Nusa Tenggara), to provide a one-stop-shop for workers seeking the necessary documents to work overseas.