RI embassy always on its toes with illegal workers
RI embassy always on its toes with illegal workers
By Ridwan M. Sijabat
KUALA LUMPUR (JP): The Indonesian embassy in Malaysia is constantly kept on its toes by the presence of hundreds of thousands of Indonesian workers in the country.
Their presence demands so much attention that the embassy here is one of few Indonesian overseas missions staffed with a labor attache. The problem is further complicated because many are in the country illegally.
Some 500 Indonesians visit the embassy each day seeking to make their presence here legal. Some even lack passports and provisional travel documents which they need in the first step to becoming legal workers. Some even turned up at the embassy last Monday, officially a public holiday.
And though Malaysia is cracking down on illegal workers, the number of illegal workers coming to the embassy has not abated.
Embassy officials estimate that some 200 Indonesians arrive each day to work illegally in Malaysia. Some get in through unguarded shores after sailing from Sumatra. Some through the jungles in Kalimantan bordering Malaysia. Many others come as legitimate tourists but with the intention of working here.
The embassy says some 600,000 Indonesian workers are registered and therefore working legally. But it believes that for every legal Indonesian worker there is another working illegally.
Abdul Karim, the embassy's labor attache, told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the inflow of illegal Indonesian workers continues because the syndicates that organize their departure and entry do so by bribing government officials in both countries.
Abdul Karim, who has been posted in Kuala Lumpur since 1992, noted that the Malaysian government has punished marine police and immigration office officers who were found to have accepted bribes. The Malaysian authorities have also jailed and fined employers for hiring illegal aliens, he said.
The maximum punishment for such an offense is six months imprisonment and M$10,000 (US$4,200). Illegal workers face the same maximum punishment in addition to deportation at the completion of their jail term.
Abdul Karim said some 1,500 Indonesians are currently in Malaysian correctional institutions, mostly serving time for working in the country illegally.
Patrols
Malaysian authorities have taken steps to prevent the inflow of unwanted Indonesian workers by tightening patrols along the Borneo border and in the Straits of Malacca, Abdul Karim said. In the last five months alone, more than 10,000 Indonesians were turned away before they reached Malaysian shores.
Abdul Karim said the embassy has also received reports of abuse against Indonesians caught working illegally in Malaysia,
"Many were robbed before being deported, others were `sold' to employment agencies which in turn supplied them to local employers, particularly plantation owners," he said.
In spite of the grim situation, many Indonesian workers do benefit from being employed in Malaysia.
Abdul Karim said many Indonesians working legally earn far above the minimum wage levels set by the Malaysian government, thanks largely to their skills.
The minimum wage levels are M$320 (US$135) a month for construction workers, M$300 for plantation workers and M$250 for those working in the informal sector.
"Many Indonesian workers employed in the construction and manufacturing sectors are earning between M$1,000 and M$2,000 ringgit a month," Abdul Karim said. Those that have difficulties are mostly workers who have no particular skills, he added.
Those working legally also enjoy legal protection and Malaysia's social security program, he said.