Malaysia turns down Indonesian requests on workers

Malaysia turns down Indonesian requests on workers

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Tampak Siring, Bali

Indonesia asked two things from Malaysia about illegal
workers: give them another one month to leave Malaysia and give
them assurances that they could return to the country.

But Malaysia rejected them all.

Speaking at the opening of a joint press conference with the
visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad here on
Thursday, President Megawati Seokarnoputri confirmed that they
discussed the controversial issue of illegal workers.

But Megawati did not have much to say. Even when asked to
explain, the President only remarked: "As I said. We discussed it
during our bilateral talks. We have also formed a task force to
handle the issue of illegal workers."

It was Mahathir who gave a lengthy explanation about the
ordeal of the Indonesian illegal workers.

Mahathir argued that his government had given enough time for
illegal workers to report and leave the country. But many of them
failed to do so.

"As a government, we have an obligation to protect our
citizens. That is why we need to get these illegal
workers out of Malaysia.

"We also have provided enough time for them to go home. It is
too bad that they did not use it," Mahathir told the joint press
conference.

As Mahathir spoke in Bali, thousands of illegal workers were
arriving in various parts of the country from Malaysia, mostly in
poor circumstances.

Many came home penniless, while others had bruises after
suffering caning at the hands of Malaysian officials, a harsh
punishment imposed under the new immigration law, which went into
effect on August 1.

More than 400,000 illegal workers are returning home from
Malaysia due to the tough immigration law. Many of them are
believed to still be stranded in borders areas.

Despite the sorry ordeal of the workers, Mahathir hoped that
relations between the two countries would remain good.

"Should some harsh things happen to the Indonesian workers, as
they have been flooding the exit points over the past few weeks,
we hope that this will not jeopardize the long-standing
relationship between our
two countries," Mahathir said.

Mahathir also said that his government could not give
assurances that all those who left Malaysia voluntarily would be
able to return to Malaysia as legal workers.

He noted that his country still needed Indonesian workers, but
not as many as in the past years. Besides, they would have to
enter Malaysia legally.

As well as the labor problem, Mahathir and Megawati also
discussed border issues, illegal logging and terrorism.

"I do not think that we have different perceptions on
that (terrorism). I think Indonesia is doing very well
and I have not see any terrorists while I've been here," he
remarked.

"In any country there are places where activities damaging to
the state take place. We must not generalize that Indonesia and
Malaysia have any problems with terrorism. There is no problem we
cannot handle," Mahathir said.

Mahathir and Megawati witnessed the signing of five
memorandums of understanding on immigration, women's empowerment,
a business council, the oil and gas trade, and a friendship
association.

The two leaders were later joined by Thai Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra. They then signed a trilateral cooperation
agreement on the rubber trade.

Their meeting in Bali coincided with the 35th anniversary of
the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN). The three
countries are all founding members of ASEAN.