Revoke existing agreement on migrants in Malaysia

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.