SBY stands by unpaid workers
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called for equal treatment before the law for Malaysian employers who failed to pay the salaries of their Indonesian workers.
"Indonesian illegal workers are facing punishment for their failure to produce the necessary documents, but the employers who hired them must be punished as well if they do not pay the workers properly," the President said on Sunday during a gathering with farmers in Sukamanah village, Jonggol subdistrict, Bogor, West Java.
The President said the government was following up complaints from some illegal workers that their employers failed to pay them their full salaries.
Thousands of Indonesian illegal workers are reportedly in hiding in Malaysia, as they wait for their salaries to be paid while trying to avoid the authorities there cracking down on illegal migrants.
The President said he would visit Malaysia sometime this week to meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for talks on illegal workers. Susilo said he would raise his concerns over unpaid workers during the meeting.
"Of course, my concerns should not be seen as an excuse for the migrants to work illegally as they must respect the Malaysian legal system," Susilo said as quoted by Antara.
Earlier, Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris said the government had hired five Malaysian lawyers to sue companies in that country that allegedly withheld the salaries of Indonesian workers. Fahmi is scheduled to meet with Malaysian home minister Azmi Khalid to discuss the issue.
Malaysian authorities have indefinitely delayed a planned nationwide raid on illegal workers, saying they needed more time to prepare for the mass detention and repatriation.
Malaysia had prepared over 500,000 immigration officers, police personnel and volunteers before delaying the raid.
According to authorities there, a large-scale operation to arrest illegal migrants will begin as soon as the data is completed on the number of undocumented immigrants in the country, mostly from Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines.
The Malaysian government has extended three times an amnesty for hundreds of thousands of illegal workers in exchange for their exit from the country.
Under the amnesty, illegal immigrants are allowed to leave the country without fear of being charged under immigration laws that carry stiff penalties, including prison, caning and fines.
The Indonesian government is preparing a "one-roof service" to help about 400,000 illegal workers obtain the necessary documents to return legally to Malaysia. Most of these workers are employed in the construction and plantation sectors in Malaysia.
This service, which will begin sometime in the middle of the year, will be available at 11 ports that are major embarkation points for Indonesians going to work in Malaysia.
The government also will introduce an online system to improve services for Indonesian workers employed abroad.
"We are too dependent on other parties' data regarding Indonesian workers abroad. We have to manage our own data so we can monitor our workers wherever they are," I Gusti Made Arka, the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration's director general of overseas employment placement, said on Sunday.
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