Settling migrant worker problems

Settling migrant worker problems

V.K. Chin, The Star, Asia News Network, Selangor, Malaysia

A month should be sufficient for the Indonesian government to
put its house in order so that it will be easier for its workers
to return to work legally in Malaysia.

The Malaysian government, the employers and those Indonesians
waiting on the other side of the Straits of Malacca are
frustrated by the delay by Jakarta in the approval process.

This is an unexpected development and is naturally causing
concern to all parties involved, except perhaps to the Indonesian
officials handling such matters.

The formation of a consortium with the exclusive rights of
submitting applications to the Indonesian immigration is
certainly not part of the understanding reached at the numerous
meetings between the two governments and their leaders.

While Kuala Lumpur has done everything possible to enable the
Indonesians to return as legalized workers, Jakarta is obviously
dragging its feet over this issue.

The government is therefore at a loss on how to speed things
up, but since the bottleneck is at the Indonesian end there is
little that Malaysia can do about it except ask Jakarta to clear
things up as quickly as possible.

It is quite likely that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is
unaware of the situation on the ground, but due to the gravity of
the issue it is important that he and his administration put
things in order.

The impression is that some greedy Indonesian officials are
taking undue advantage of the event to make some money. They know
they can hold up things by imposing all sorts of fees for the
employers and the workers to pay.

Several things are likely to happen if the matter is not
resolved quickly.

First, the affected workers eager to return to work will
resort to borrowing money to pay the new fees, which are expected
to be RM1,000 or more.

This is a huge amount for the ordinary Indonesians. If they
should decide to do this, then it would mean that they would be
faced with a heavy debt to settle.

Since waiting or remaining at home is no longer an option,
many of them will most probably take the next drastic step of
coming back to Malaysia illegally and hoping for the best.

However, many of them may not realize that circumstances have
changed and Malaysian employers are now more wary of employing
illegal labor due to the heavier penalty they will have to face
if caught.

So should the Indonesians and other foreigners come in by the
back door, they might find the employment door closed to them.
Without the ability to earn a living, they may resort to crime to
get the money to survive.

The third and more serious move will be for the government to
look to other countries to fill the labor shortage. This is an
action that could have some serious repercussions on bilateral
relations and will be taken as a last resort.