Malaysia to deport some 4,000 RI jobseekers
JAKARTA (JP): Malaysia will begin deporting some 4,000 Indonesian jobseekers who have entered the country illegally, a senior Malaysian official said.
However, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Dato Megat Junid stressed that the move would spare these workers from the likelihood being exploited and subjected to various abuse because of their illegal status in Malaysia.
"It's better for them to be deported than being raped, deceived, mistreated, or drowned in the sea," Megat told reporters after a meeting with Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief to discuss the fate of Indonesian workers in Malaysia.
The 4,000 illegal jobseekers, who arrived in the past two years, did not qualify for a general amnesty granted by the Malaysian government to some 200,000 Indonesians who work in the country.
The 4,000 are already in police custody and will be deported to Indonesia in the next three months at the expense of the Malaysian government, Megat said. "I hope the Indonesian immigration office is ready to receive them," he added.
He said Malaysia would be willing to accept them back if they came with the proper documents. "A foreigner must have an identity card, a passport, visa and a working permit to be able to work in Malaysia," he said.
Hundreds of Indonesians have been killed in sea accidents in the recent years when they tried to enter Malaysia illegally. The last accident involved the Bara Damai ship that killed 47 people and left approximately 60 others missing on Malaysian waters last July.
Megat said Malaysia has a strong preference to recruit Indonesian workers because the two countries share the same language, religion and culture.
Some 90 percent of the 430,000 foreigners working in Malaysia come from Indonesia, he recalled.
Skilled
He said the booming Malaysian economy, in which per capita income has reached almost $3,000 per year, still needs hundreds of thousands of foreigners to work in the industrial, agriculture, tourism and construction sectors.
"In the next three years, we will spend around US$13 billion on construction... Therefore, we need workers skilled in this sector as well as those skilled in electronics, medicine, the service industry and factory operation," he said
Indonesia and Malaysia recently signed an agreement that ensured legal protection for Indonesian workers working in Malaysia, but these only cover Indonesians who work legally.
In the past, many illegal workers in Malaysia fell into the hands of unscrupulous brokers and their legal situation allowed them to be viciously exploited by employers.
Latief said the Indonesian government will tighten the flow of Indonesian workers to the neighboring country and become more selective. He said that this was because, formerly, many of the illegal jobseekers were either illiterate, old, or unhealthy.
The government's measures include the provision of training for would-be workers, tightened patrols along the border, and a crack-down on unscrupulous brokers. The government will also simplify the procedures necessary for people to work overseas.
Megat said Malaysia will set up a special agency, scheduled to open as of Aug. 1, to coordinate local worker recruitment companies.
"The government will give working permits only for workers recruited by authorized companies or agencies," he said, adding that this system would stop illegal brokerage in that country. (rms)