Malaysia and RI dishonest on illegal workers issue

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta

Expulsion reflects a feeling of dislike, displeasure, dissatisfaction, opposition, hate and malice, but is this how Malaysia feels about Indonesian illegal immigrants?

Not exactly.

Malaysian authorities have begun expelling an estimated 1.2 million illegal migrants -- mostly Indonesian citizens -- who have been blamed for the increasing crime rate over the last few years, under an amnesty scheme until Dec. 31. Those going out from that country during the amnesty period will not be sent to prison or fined.

Some 400,000 already-recruited uniformed volunteers will be deployed as of Jan. 1 to crack down on plantations, houses and construction projects employing illegal workers. They could be caned, jailed, or fined before being deported by force.

Are Indonesian laborers the problem? Not really. It is evident that Malaysian people do not hate or dislike Indonesian workers because they -- Malaysian employers and certain political groups in particular -- have reaped economic and political advantages from the presence of these illegal immigrants.

Most rubber and oil palm estates, construction projects and households have employed -- legally or illegally -- workers from Indonesia, but not in line with core labor standards. If the mass deportation goes ahead, these plantations and construction projects will probably collapse.

Although it has oft been denied, allegations have been rife that many Indonesian migrants employed in Malaysia were used during the election to give a landslide victory to the ruling party under then prime minister Mahathir Muhammad's leadership.

So, why must these illegal migrants be expelled if their presence is really needed? The answer is very simple: The election is over. And law enforcement is the most effective and acceptable way to justify the Malaysian government's move.

But the deportation will not solve the real problem because both countries have turned a blind eye to the core issue, although they are aware of it.

History speaks for itself. Harsher sanctions carried out under the Malaysian Immigration Law, following its amendment in August 2002, were found ineffective in preventing foreigners from entering the country illegally. Even adversely, the harsher the sanctions that Malaysia imposed, the more illegal foreign workers took up posts in the country.

Malaysia had several times legalized illegal immigrants from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and the Philippines, and these precedents encouraged more illegal migrants with the hope that their status would also eventually be legalized, due to strong demands from their Malaysian employers.

It would be naive to say that Malaysia and Indonesia -- with a combined total of more than 42 million underemployed people -- have not learned from similar problems in Europe and the United States.

Hundreds of thousands of people from Mexico and Cuba have migrated illegally to the United States to seek jobs. Likewise, thousands of Africans, Turks and Albanians have been working illegally in Germany, France, Italy and Britain. But the illegal migrant issue has never been settled with deportation en masse.

The illegal immigrant issue will likely reemerge in the next few years because the two countries have not touched the core problem, which is a matter of market supply and demand, rather than an issue of illegal migration alone.

Indonesian workers will continue to flood Malaysia, Singapore and other high-growth neighboring countries, as long as their home country cannot provide jobs with a better remuneration system than those countries.

Many Indonesian have gone to Malaysia to seek jobs because of the high demand for workers there and the oversupply in Indonesia. Wage levels in Malaysia -- even for migrant workers employed illegally -- are far higher and more competitive than in Indonesia.

A housemaid is paid at least 350 ringgit (Rp 822,500) per month in Malaysia, while the monthly basic salary on plantations and in construction projects is 500 ringgit (Rp 1.1 million). Those working on plantations and in construction projects could earn up to 2,000 ringgit (Rp 4.7 million), depending on their performance and overtime payment. In Indonesia, a housemaid is paid only around Rp 300,000 per month, while the highest monthly minimum wage in Indonesia is almost Rp 700,000.

Indonesians often prefer entering Malaysia illegally because, while the procedures are complex and quite costly to meet, they cannot meet the elaborate administrative requirements. Malaysian employers also often prefer hiring illegal immigrants to Malaysian workers due to efficiency and the low cost of their labor.

Illegal workers are usually paid less than the legal basic salary and are not given transportation and medical allowances. And their illegal status makes them vulnerable to abuse by their employers.

But many job seekers have taken the illegal way to work in Malaysia because, besides being cheaper, they are usually required to pay around Rp 3 million for job training and transportation fees in Malaysia and have to wait for two or three months before their employment.

To help solve the illegal immigrant issue, the two governments should sit together to design a better system to manage workers' migration.

Malaysia, for example, should consider giving -- through a tight selection process -- green cards to foreigners wanting to work in Malaysia. The green cards could function as identity cards, passports and certificates.

Under such a system, only green card holders would be allowed to seek jobs in Malaysia and the Malaysian government would take harsh actions against illegal immigrants and Malaysians who employed them.

The Indonesian government should also provide standard job training programs for jobless high school graduates and dropouts, to better equip them for seeking jobs overseas.

The author is a staff writer for The Jakarta Post. He can be reached at ridwan@thejakartapost.com