Navy gears up for massive evacuation

JAKARTA (JP): The Navy is preparing warships to bring home Indonesian workers from Malaysia and help transport travelers in Indonesia as the busy Idul Fitri holidays approach.

Navy Chief Adm. Arief Kushariadi said the navy if needed will commit their warships to take part in repatriation of Indonesian workers from Malaysia.

"We are always ready to bring the migrant workers back. The ships needed to transport them here are always available. We are still waiting for the result of the negotiation between the Indonesian and Malaysian governments," he said without specifying which ships would be used.

Navy warships had recently succeeded in sailing back 5,000 illegal Indonesian workers, most of them come from Java island, from Malaysia in an Armed Forces operation.

Meanwhile, a press officer at the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Nawawi Hasbi, told The Jakarta Post that the embassy has not made special preparation for the possible repatriation since there has been no formal notification from the Indonesian government.

"The Malaysians haven't formally informed us yet about their plan to send home a million of foreign workers in the country, including Indonesian workers," Nawawi said.

Nawawi said the latest data showed that there were currently about 600,000 Indonesians legally working in Malaysia. He could not give the number of Indonesians working illegally.

"We are still wondering whether the Malaysian government meant the illegal ones, or the legal ones. But, from the (local) television news we think it may be the legal ones," he added.

Malaysian Deputy Minister of Interior Mohd. Tajol Rosli Ghazali announced on Friday that the government planned to send back a million migrant workers to their countries.

The step was taken in line with the government's policy to reduce the use of migrant workers in industries and to provide jobs for local fresh graduates. The policy was ruled out as a way to escape from the monetary crisis.

Antara quoted Tajol as saying that the government encouraged the workers, whose working permits or contracts had expired, to come home by their own initiatives and any return to the country is officially prohibited.

He said the remaining workers whose permits are still valid would be transferred to export oriented industries such as agriculture and manufacture.

Record from the Malaysian Immigration Department showed that the country currently hires two million migrant workers.

Of the 2 million, 1.2 million came from various Asian countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nigeria and the Philippine to earn their living.

Another 800,000 migrant workers were reported to have come illegally and worked in Malaysia. Indonesian fills the majority of the amount, but the exact number was not available. (09/aan)