Malaysia, RI profit from Indonesian illegal workers

Eddy Purwanto, Consortium for the Defense of Indonesian Migrant Workers, Jakarta; Yos Soetiyoso, Institute for the Study and Development of Community Self-Support, Yogyakarta

Problems related to Indonesian migrant workers continue to arise. It all started with our first five-year development plan when there was an oil boom at home. Many did not get a share of the development cake and had to try their luck abroad. Neighboring Malaysia has become one of the main destinations of these migrant workers. Most went abroad without proper papers.

Recently, Mahathir Mohammad expressed his anger toward these migrant workers, particularly the illegal workers -- the pendatang haram -- following their clashes with Malaysian police. The planned measures to reduce Indonesian workers in Malaysia have raised an uproar here, but Malaysia points at the frequent misbehavior of Indonesian workers.

Despite earlier efforts, Indonesians willing to work Malaysia's plantations and construction sites continue to pour in illegally without much difficulty.

Take the case of Hosnan, 36, who comes from Bantur, Malang, East Java. He was lured by a broker who told him that he could help him earn millions of rupiah a month in Malaysia. He paid the broker Rp 5,200,000 for a passport and a visitor's visa. He then left for Malaysia through Belawan port in North Sumatra. In Malaysia he worked as a bricklayer earning 40 Malaysian ringgit (RM) a day, the equivalent of about Rp 104,000 compared to about Rp 20,000 a day in Jakarta for the same work.

For three decades now the same pattern has applied for workers wishing to enter East Malaysia, particularly through the towns of Tawao in Sabah and Kuching in Sarawak. One can get into Tawao through Nunukan and into Kuching through Entikong. A researcher from the Consortium for the Defense of Indonesian Migrant Workers (KOPBUMI) was told by an Indonesian passenger in a boat between Tarakan and Nunukan in October last year, that immigrants from his home province Flores were attracted by stories of relatives working in Malaysia.

People from Flores and Sulawesi have long stayed in Nunukan, working as brokers for aspiring migrants. They offer accommodation services and help process documents such as resident identity cards for Nunukan, passports and cross-border passes. They will also find you jobs in Tawao. So aspiring migrants need only tell them whether they want to work with or without proper documents.

The most popular method is to use a cross-border pass. Anyone with a Nunukan resident identity card is entitled to this pass. The pass enables one to stay in Tawao for one month. Immigrants with this pass will be taken to Tawao and then handed over to a "foreman" to be employed at an oil palm or cocoa estate or at a plywood mill, earning between RM 8 ringgit (about Rp 20,800 or US$2) to RM 12 ringgit a day. The US$2 daily wage amounts to the globally recognized income of a person living under the poverty line, a marked contrast with what the workers were promised.

Another way is to include the name of immigrants in the pass owned by the people fetching them. They will be taken to the local immigration office to have their photographs taken. Then these photographs will be affixed to the pass belonging to those fetching them.

Obtaining the necessary documents does not always mean spending a lot of money or going through red tape. In every public service there is always a way to grease the wheels. One of the documents commonly used by illegal workers is the certificate of good conduct issued by the police in Indonesia.

When one is found in a police raid using the necessary certificate of good conduct to apply for a job, one only has to pay a fine of Rp 10,000 to Rp 25,000 at the office of the Kinabalu-based Indonesian Consulate.

A survey by another center working with migrants, the Malang- based Foundation for Rural Development (YPP) in 1998 found that the illegal method of seeking work in Malaysia was preferred because hardly any documents like diplomas were needed, and because costs were lower.

In Tawao and Sebatik, registered workers must pay a guarantee fee worth RM 100 to RM 500, depending on their job. Then they will have to pay a levy of between RM 200 and RM 550 and a monthly residence contribution fee of RM 100. Those who are unregistered only need to pay the residence contribution fee of RM 100 a month.

Malaysian workers generally avoid menial and dirty jobs. When Malaysia built various kinds of public works and a number of public facilities, the country received much help from migrant workers -- including illegal ones.

Illegal workers benefit employers given their vulnerability. Often Indonesian migrant workers do not receive their pay for three to six months under the pretext that this is intentionally arranged to ensure that they will not spend all their money while in Malaysia.

While still waiting for their pay, they are often raided, arrested and detained. Then the foreman or the employer will come to free them and tell them that all their money was spent to bail them out. "You have no more money left. If you want money, you must work again," they would be told. Things would go on like this until these migrant workers are deported, penniless and left virtually with only the shirt on their back.

Thanks to these migrant workers, Indonesia could see its earlier unemployment rate of 50 million people reduced without having to open up more job opportunities. Besides, the foreign exchange earnings from migrant workers in Malaysia in 2001 alone, for example, was some RM 2.5 million. This simple illustration shows that the two countries benefit from the presence of Indonesian migrant workers.

However, the labor policies of the two countries always find fault with these migrant workers, particularly those labeled as illegal immigrants.

In terms of rupiah, the earnings of Indonesian migrant workers are in the millions. However, the standard of living in Malaysia is also high. This means that they live just above the water while at the same time they are overshadowed by the presence of the Malaysian police, who prey upon legal and illegal migrants if they are found without their passports.

This extortion of money is conducted in many ways: through door-to-door visits by the police, in raids at the workplace and in street raids. During police "visits", Indonesian migrant workers must prepare bribes of between RM 50 and RM 100 per head. Every month two visits are expected.

Any worker caught in a raid loses all the money he is carrying. Anyone caught in the workplace with no money on him will have his fine paid by the foreman, who will later deduct the amount from his salary.

Any worker nabbed in a street raid with no money will be allowed by the police to borrow money from friends. Those who fail to come up with the money land in an immigration camp. The Malaysian police seem to be nurturing this source of side income.

Indonesian government data shows that about 36,000 Indonesian migrant workers are being held in Malaysian immigration camps and that they have been mistreated by the Malaysian police. Those kept in these camps are often whipped with rattan canes or pummeled with fists.

The riot, or more accurately, the protest, involving Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia broke out after 16 of their colleagues were arrested for alleged drug use. The solidarity protest to free these detainees led to clashes with the Malaysian police.

It is not yet clear how the migrant workers obtained drugs. Anyone with extra money would likely use it to bribe police for their release. Malaysia also exercises very tight control over drugs and capital punishment awaits anybody found using or trafficking drugs.

Therefore it appears questionable that the workers, who came to Malaysia to seek work, were indeed using or trafficking drugs which could mean risking losing their jobs and even their lives. Such allegations, if untrue, might have indeed led to their aggression.

In addition the accumulation of problems may have added to their pent-up anger and disillusionment.

Wisdom is hence needed in settling this problem on both the Indonesian and Malaysian side. Instead, Mahathir became furious and the response from Indonesia was confusing -- while many, also on Indonesia's side, blamed the Indonesian workers.

Despite demands to do so it does not seem that the Indonesian government is ready to take diplomatic measures at the level of head of state. Meanwhile, thousands of Indonesians are crying out for assistance. They have nurtured high hopes of seeking a better life for themselves and their families, but instead have been subject to insult, condemnation and torture.

For the sake of the nation and for the sake of humanity, it is time that a firm stance should be shown and diplomatic measures taken. In their rallies the workers were seen unfurling the red- and-white flag, a sign that they are Indonesians who now urgently need, and are entitled to, protection at least from their own country, if not from their host country.