RI workers in Malaysia not abused: Activists

RI workers in Malaysia not abused: Activists

JAKARTA (JP): Human rights activists, just returning from
Malaysia, have refuted reports that 6,000 Indonesian workers are
locked up and being abused in the neighboring country's detention
centers.

Baharuddin Lopa, secretary-general of the National Committee
on Human Rights, said on Saturday several committee members had
gone to eight centers and could not substantiate the reports or
find evidence that illegal Indonesian workers there had been
abused.

"It is not true that Indonesian workers are kept in detention
centers. They are being accommodated in decent camps pending
their deportation," he told reporters.

According to Lopa, the Malaysian government's treatment of the
workers in no way violates their basic rights as reported in
local newspapers.

However, he acknowledged that many of the workers were
dissatisfied with the drinking water and toilets, the supply of
which they said was inadequate.

Members of the commission visited Malaysia last week following
local press and labor activists' reports that several thousand
Indonesian workers entering Malaysia illegally have been detained
and treated badly.

Several hundred thousand Indonesians work, many illegally, on
plantations and construction projects in the prospering country.

Although the two neighbors have agreed to ease immigration
procedures, many Indonesian job seekers opt to go illegally under
the arrangements of labor brokers.

Tenaganita, a Malaysian NGO, earlier sent a report to the
Indonesian embassy based on a survey of the condition of 340
detainees in Semenyih, Juru, Kelantan, Johor and Malaka detention
centers.

Tenaganita stated that many Indonesian workers have been
treated badly, and that some of the detainees have been raped and
tortured.

Lopa said that the workers should be grateful for what the
Malaysian government has provided them.

"They eat properly every day, three meals without having to
spend even one rupiah," he said.

He said the number of workers accommodated in the camps
changes every day.

"We noted on April 10 that there were 7,658 Indonesian workers
kept in eight camps throughout Malaysia," he said.

He said that the team has visited the eight camps, in which
illegal Indonesian workers are kept before being deported back to
Indonesia.

Lopa proposed that the Indonesian government ease immigration
procedures further to encourage local workers to go legally.

"We were told that the complicated immigration procedures are
the main reason why so many people have entered Malaysia
illegally," he said. (imn)