Malaysia deports illegal RI workers
Malaysia deports illegal RI workers
PASIR GUDANG, Malaysia (Reuter): About 1,000 illegal Indonesian workers boarded an Indonesian naval ship under heavy armed escort yesterday in Malaysia's first deportation of illegal workers after an amnesty expired earlier this week.
The last batch of about 300 deportees, including about 50 women, arrived at a port here in southern Johor state yesterday afternoon in police trucks and buses, escorted by four police cars.
Indonesian marines were seen keeping vigil on the ship, Tanjung Osina, which left the port at 4:10 p.m. yesterday.
Lengthy processing of papers delayed the departure for more than an hour, officials said.
The Indonesians were among an estimated 700,000 illegal workers who failed to meet a December 31, 1996 deadline to register for work papers. About 300,000 workers registered under the amnesty.
A dozen police field officers armed with rifles stood guard near the gray ship as the Indonesians, carrying their belongings, boarded. Men and women were separated.
Witnesses described the forced exodus as orderly although several women already on board were seen weeping and calling out to friends on the dock.
A majority of the Indonesians were headed for Surabaya on Java island.
A distraught Indonesian man told reporters his wife, who was wearing a purple dress and crying, was being sent back even though she had employment papers.
The man declined to give his name, but said he was a legal worker in Malaysia. "I have documents for her release. I will fight for her," he said.
Others said they were glad to be leaving. "I am happy to return home in this big ship, which has come to fetch me," said Mohamed Noor, a construction worker who arrived in Malaysia last November.
Sutanto, an official at Indonesia's Ministry of Manpower, said this would be the first and only occasion when an Indonesian naval ship was used for such a mission. "The next time, Malaysia will have to use normal channels," he told Reuters at the port.
The remaining Indonesian deportees are expected to be sent off on civilian vessels. Repatriation of illegal immigrants is normally done by ferries and chartered boats.
The Indonesian official also said those being sent back were "good workers", and that some had not applied for amnesty because they "were confused by immigration rules", or had been misled by labor agents.
Few children were spotted among the deportees.
Convoys of police trucks and buses have been transporting illegal workers to the port since Thursday from eight camps and two prisons around Malaysia, local newspapers said.
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