Migrant workers still stranded in border areas

Migrant workers still stranded in border areas

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A large number of illegal Indonesian workers returning from Malaysia have not yet reached their home provinces as they are stranded in Tawau in East Malaysia, Nunukan in East Kalimantan, and Medan in North Sumatra.

At least 130,000 illegal workers from East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) are still in Tawau and Nunukan, chairman of Commission E at the NTT provincial council Yohannes Sehandi said Saturday.

"We can identify NTT workers from their appearance. Unlike other workers, they also brought along their beds and television antennas," Yohannes was quoted by Antara as saying.

Yohannes said the workers were given choices whether to stay in Nunukan or go back to NTT to submit new applications to return to Malaysia.

But illegal workers in border areas like Nunukan must prepare themselves to live with limited assistance as the government plans to treat them like refugees, giving 400 grams of rice and Rp 1,500 (16.6 U.S.cents) allowance per person daily for one month.

Vessels available to bring them to their home provinces have limited capacity, carrying out a total of 2,000 people each day.

In North Sumatra, most of the 10,000 illegal workers, who have entered Belawan port in Medan, have chosen to stay in the province.

North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin said Saturday that his administration had only a small budget to help illegal workers stranded in his province.

"We have handled more than 100,000 internally displaced people from Aceh, now we must assist illegal workers. Without the central government's help, we can't continue receiving illegal workers here," he told the Post.

According to him, his administration had been waiting for the central government's promise to provide vessels to transport the workers back to their families, but the ships have yet to appear.

"The central government also owes us Rp 300 million as we financed about 6,900 illegal workers since 1998 to their homes," he said.

In East Java, only about 12,000 migrant workers, both legal and illegal, arrived in Tanjung Perak seaport Saturday. They looked exhausted after a long journey from Malaysia.

The workers took a ship from Tanjung Pinang seaport in Riau, then continued their trip to East Java, Antara reported.

Malaysia started implementing the new Immigration Act on Thursday, which threatens illegal workers with caning, fines and jail sentences.

However, the Malaysian government decided to delay the repatriation of the illegal immigrants until the end of this month at the request of the Indonesian government.

Up to 480,000 Indonesian working illegally in Malaysia are in a panic to return home with the implementation of the new Act.

Separately, labor activists with the Panca Karsa Foundation in West Nusa Tenggara Endang Susilowati criticized the Malaysian government policy to oust the migrant workers, saying the action was unfair.

"They (Malaysia) don't respect the Indonesian workers who helped their economy grow very fast," she said.

According to her, many Malaysians who employed illegal Indonesian workers had actually treated the workers inhumane, such as giving unreasonable wages, withholding their passports and salaries.

Another activist Munir Achmad also said the illegal worker problem was not only Indonesia's fault, but also Malaysia's.

"They need the illegal workers...those who hire our illegal workers are backed up by officials there," he told the Post.