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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