RI workers say Malaysia no longer land of opportunity

RI workers say Malaysia no longer land of opportunity

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post/Makassar

Malaysia, which had long been a land of hope and promise for
Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) seeking better lives, has now
closed its doors.

Ants are drawn to sugar, and Malaysia was sugar for
Indonesians laboring to make a living and improve their families'
welfare, even if it meant going abroad.

Malaysia was a country that promised an adequate income to
unskilled laborers, and each time a migrant worker returned home,
they would take their relatives or friends back to Malaysia with
them.

The number of TKI in the neighboring country thus continued to
increase, and in many cases, Indonesian workers entered Malaysia
without proper immigration documents -- in other cases, their
recruitment agencies neglected to provide them with
identification and immigration papers.

Many illegal migrant workers were able to live and work in
Malaysia in relative peace because local authorities had rarely
questioned their presence, and because many employers preferred
to hire TKI for their lower wages and the advantage of not having
to pay related labor taxes.

However, this is no longer the case, and some TKI have been
forced to move from place to place or job to job as Malaysian
authorities launched nationwide raids to net illegal workers,
following the 2002 enforcement of tough immigration laws.

Murah, 44, and Tima, 42, a couple from Buton, Southeast
Sulawesi, were among the thousands of migrant workers who
repatriated under the amnesty scheme provided by the Malaysian
government, which will end on Nov. 14.

Murah and Tima had left their hometown for Malaysia hoping for
decent life, and worked there for two years. Murah worked as a
gardener and his wife worked as a domestic help in Keke, Sabah,
East Malaysia. The couple said their wages were higher than they
expected: Murah made RM 15 a day (US$4).

Murah saved his wages and sent money back home to his children
once a month.

"I sent about Rp 1 million every month," said Murah, who
arrived recently in Parepare seaport, South Sulawesi, along with
hundreds of other TKI from the same province.

Their early days in Malaysia were pleasant, they said, but
after their passports expired about five months ago, everything
changed. Life in Malaysia became frightening, as Murah was often
pursued by the police and had to hide.

"We were afraid because if we were caught, we could be
imprisoned or even caned," he said.

Another migrant worker also from Buton Island, Andi, 29, had a
similar experience. Before he migrated to Malaysia, he worked as
a gardener in Buton, but his pay was extremely low. He traveled
to the neighboring country seeking better pay and found work at
an oil palm plantation and sometimes worked as a construction
worker, making anywhere from Rp 2 million to Rp 3 million a
month.

Andi also repatriated under the amnesty program to escape
harsh punishment. He wants to return to Malaysia, but realizes he
would need proper documents this time.

The government offers services to process appropriate
documents for aspiring migrant workers, but the majority of them
do not understand the procedures involved, nor the legal basis
for documentation. The registration posts set up by the manpower
ministry and social welfare ministry have thus been unable to
reach out to migrant workers.

On the other hand, many workers are unwilling to resort to the
documentation services offered by the government, because they
assumed they would have to pay for the facility. Some even think
that if they registered at the posts, they would not be allowed
to return to Malaysia.

As of now, only three hundred people have registered at the
government-sponsored TKI documentation posts.