RI pledges to bring 400,000 illegals home
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Medan
The Indonesian government has vowed to work hard to bring home around 400,000 illegal workers remaining in Malaysia, with Malaysia deciding to extend the amnesty for the third time.
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris said on Wednesday the government would continue disseminating information on the amnesty's extension and the simplified and free documentation available in order to persuade illegal immigrants to return home.
"Besides disseminating free documentation, the government will deploy transportation facilities to prevent them from being stranded at Malaysia's exit points. The Malaysian government has also helped disseminate information on the amnesty program through employers and requested that they pay their workers' salaries.
"If workers fail to respond to this positively, then the (Indonesian) government has no more ideas on how to prevent the Malaysian authorities from enforcing their harsh immigration laws," Fahmi told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta.
Malaysian Home Minister Azmi Khalid officially announced in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, that the decision to indefinitely extend the amnesty was taken at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, based on a written request from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"It may appear to most Malaysians that we have backtracked but we must put ourselves in Indonesia's shoes," Azmi was quoted by AFP as saying.
"Imagine if our country was struck by a huge disaster and within a month our fellow citizens were treated badly in another country, how would we feel?"
State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra was visiting Kuala Lumpur apparently to convey Susilo's written request. President Susilo is slated to visit Malaysia next week for talks with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to discuss the planned deportation and other issues.
Indonesia's Ambassador to Malaysia Rusdihardjo said his office would continue disseminating information on the amnesty extension in order to get illegal workers back before the extended amnesty expires.
"We will continue deploying our staff to meet Indonesian workers employed in remote areas of this country, so that they can obtain necessary documents to stay and work legally before the Malaysian authorities launch a major crackdown," he said.
Director General of Labor Export at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry I Gede Arke said possible human rights abuses could be avoided during planned raids and deportations of illegal workers since the two countries have agreed to tackle the issue within the spirit of ASEAN.
Indonesia and Malaysia are senior members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"Malaysia will launch raids in stages in line with the capacity of its 54 immigration camps that can house up to 12,000 illegal immigrants.
"Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab has prepared transportation facilities such as ships and C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft to transport the illegal migrants," Arke said.
To avoid any further unemployment problems at home, he said, the two governments would provide a "one-stop service" to facilitate the legal return of workers to Malaysia.
"The one-stop service will start to be offered by the middle of this month at 14 points simultaneously, including Belawan in North Sumatra, Kuala Tungkal in Jambi, Tanjungpinang in Riau, Entikong in West Kalimantan and Nunukan in East Kalimantan," he said.
Meanwhile, chief of the immigration office in Belawan port, Syamsul Bahri, called on the government to deploy more ships to Malaysia since thousands of illegal immigrants have been stranded at several Malaysian ports due to lack of transport facilities to Indonesia.
He said that only one ferry served the Johor Baru-Belawan route on Wednesday and that it could transport only 198 passengers.
On Tuesday, some 800 illegal immigrants returned home through the seaport as four ferries served the route, while more than 1,500 others employed in East Malaysia left for the Nunukan port to obtain necessary documents.