Navy ships to bring workers home

Navy ships to bring workers home

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has dispatched three navy vessels to bring illegal
Indonesian workers home from Malaysia as the deadline for the
imposition of the new Malaysian Immigration Act draw nears.

"We have readied naval ships in Johor (Malaysia) to bring the
workers home," Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Jusuf
Kalla said on Monday.

"The ships will take them to Sulawesi before they continue
their journeys home with state-owned shipping line PT Pelni at
their own expense.".

Separately, Harry Heriawan, Director General for Public
Mobility at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, said the
government had sent three vessels to Johor -- the KRI Teluk
Lampung, KRI Kambani and KRI Ende. "The ships will transport the
migrants to Pare-pare, South Sulawesi, as most of the workers
come from this area."

Malaysia, after a three-month amnesty, is slated to implement
the new Immigration Act, which threatens illegal workers with
canning, on Thursday.

The neighboring country has decided to cut by half the number
of Indonesian migrant workers after a riot broke out at a textile
factory in Seramban last January.

Malaysia has also stepped up raids against illegal workers and
as the deadline draws near, riot squads are on guard at major
exit points in Malaysia.

As the three-month amnesty nears its end, thousands of
Indonesians are camped out at Johor state's Stulang Laut jetty,
one of the major exit points from the country, hoping to get a
ferry home, Agence France-Presse reported.

In the capital Kuala Lumpur, about 150 illegal immigrants,
mainly from Indonesia and Myanmar, gathered at the UN refugee
agency office to seek asylum ahead of the deadline.

Harry further said that Indonesians made up the bulk of
Malaysia's illegal migrant population, with the number reaching
up to 480,000 people. By Aug. 10, only 120,000 of them had
returned home because of the immediate prospect of the new act
coming into effect.

He said that the financial issue was one of the major problems
preventing workers from returning to Indonesia as they could not
afford to pay for their journeys.

On Monday, Jusuf reiterated the Indonesian government's
intention of sending at least some of the deported workers back
to Malaysia through proper immigration channels.

"The workers can get their passports sorted out and return to
Malaysia legally. But, only some of them will be eligible to
return there because of the new quota system," Jusuf said.

Indonesia plans to propose a new Memorandum of Understanding
with Malaysia that will allow the deported workers to regain
their jobs after being trained in Indonesia.

The new deal will be discussed at upcoming high-level talks
during the planned informal two-day visit of Malaysian Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Aug. 7 to Bali.