Revoke existing agreement on migrants in Malaysia

Wahyu Susilo, Executive Secretary, Consortium of Advocates for Indonesian Migrant Workers (KPBMI), Jakarta

July 31 is the deadline for undocumented migrant workers across Malaysia, following the enactment of Immigration Act 1154/2002, which is an amendment of a 1963 act. The focus of this amendment is the implementation of physical penalties in the form of caning, imprisonment and fines for those implicated in the hiring of illegals or workers without complete documents.

Potential targets are the migrants themselves, employers and businesspeople, officials and anyone protecting undocumented workers.

A migrant found guilty of lacking the proper documents is subject to a maximum fine of 10,000 Malaysian ringgit (Rp 23 million, or about US$2,527), a maximum of five years imprisonment and six lashes with a cane. Those found to have employed undocumented migrants face a maximum punishment of a 50,000 ringgit fine, five years in prison and six lashes with a cane. For officials involved with undocumented workers, the maximum penalty is a fine of 60,000 ringgit, two years in prison and six lashes with a cane.

And those protecting illegal migrants can be fined up to 50,000 ringgit, given five years in prison and six lashes.

These new penalties come in response to increasing numbers of migrant workers found without proper documents. Many thought the penalties stipulated in the earlier regulation were too light -- arrested undocumented migrant workers were only detained and deported.

The people most vulnerable under the new immigration act are the Indonesian migrant workers. Workers from Indonesia make up the largest portion of working migrants in Malaysia. Migrants enter not only by sea, air and through official border posts, but also through at least 100 clandestine routes along the Malaka Strait and through the forests along the Indonesian-Malaysian border.

There are also ancient sea routes between North Kalimantan and the Malaysian mainland, connecting the maritime communities of the Bugis, Tana Toraja in South Sulawesi and those in Madura (East Java), Lombok (West Nusa Tenggara) and Flores (East Nusa Tenggara).

Therefore the phenomenon of undocumented workers in Malaysia reaches far beyond the legal-formal context; historical and cultural factors also must be taken into account.

Based on past cases, undocumented workers fall into a number of distinct categories. The first includes those who are simply used to not going through official channels, and deliberately don't get their documents because of past experience and some guarantee from their network.

The second are those who take this shortcut because of economic pressure, and who will take any kind of work they can get. These include those people who are dissatisfied with their legal job for some reason, including unsatisfactory wages.

The third type of migrants are those who have been conned by agents and brokers -- victims of human trafficking (mainly women and children).

The fourth are those documented migrants who have run into trouble in Malaysia; they have had to leave their jobs for some reason and their documents are still with their employer.

Currently, there are numerous undocumented workers in the third and fourth categories. This is because of bilateral agreements between Indonesia and Malaysia which are highly unfavorable to Indonesian migrants.

The 1997 agreement on domestic workers and the 1998 agreement on nondomestic workers, for example, stipulates that the passports of these workers must be held by the employer. This means immigration documents are virtually held hostage by the employers, thus restricting the mobility of workers.

Indonesia must therefore work with Malaysia to revoke these rules, which are clearly detrimental to our workers.

Although the repressive new immigration act will become effective on Aug. 1, the Malaysian government already started "rounding up" workers in February. This step followed a "rebellion" by Indonesian migrant workers in the industrial area of Nila in the state of Negeri Sembilan. The workers were upset by the actions of the police, who on Jan. 17 conducted a drug raid on Indonesian camps.

This incident provided the momentum for the Malaysian government to review the relationship between migrants, particularly those from Indonesia, and the rest of Malaysian society.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has manipulated the "Indonesia-phobia" in Malaysian society to acquire the legitimacy to raid, arrest and deport Indonesian migrant workers. The government stepped up its antimigrant campaign. Raids increased and extended to the door-to-door level. This situation led to overcrowded detention camps, leading to the deportation of many of the arrested migrants.

One of the early government measures was to burn down residential areas of undocumented workers on city outskirts, along river banks and in mangrove forests. The following stage, Operation Leave, comprised the arrest and deportation of undocumented workers.

Hundreds of migrant worker residential areas have been burned down and 34,414 undocumented workers, mostly from Indonesia, have been deported (Borneo Mail, May 25, 2002).

During these operations at least six Indonesian migrants drowned in the Langat River near the Port Klang (Utusan Malaysia, March 20). There has been no investigation of this incident.

So far, there has also been very little response from the Indonesian government to the repressive policies on undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia.

Undocumented migrants who want to obtain their papers also raise the classic complaint about going to the Indonesian consulate general or embassy: Blackmail.

Officially, processing fees for new passports range from 12 ringgit to 20 ringgit; but migrants find they pay up to 800 ringgit or even 1,000 ringgit because the process has become big business for brokers.

It is difficult for migrants to get direct access to the consulate general or the embassy, so they must go through the hordes of brokers who wander around the building. This situation prevents many Indonesian workers from getting their papers and making sure they are within the law.

Therefore, on Aug. 1 we can expect waves of deported migrant workers, and if this is not anticipated these workers will suffer even more in their own land.