Taking a deeper look at migrant workers in Malaysia

Taking a deeper look at migrant workers in Malaysia

Wahyu Susilo, Jakarta

The period from the second half of 2004 through to the
beginning of 2005 was a vulnerable time for Indonesian migrant
workers in Malaysia, who were besieged with uncertainties. The
Malaysian government had already warned in July 2004 that mass
deportations of undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia would
again be carried out based on its Immigration Act of 2002.

This policy would be enforced by mobilizing around 560,000
civilians -- members of the People's Volunteers Union/RELA -- as
the spearhead of raids to arrest and evict those carrying no
documents.

Despite the Malaysian government's early warning, no
significant response came from the Indonesian government to
anticipate the implementation of this policy. Our government had
apparently learned nothing from the bitter experience of the
Nunukan tragedy in September-October 2002, when some 350,000
migrant workers were deported from Sabah, Malaysia, to the
Indonesian frontier town of Nunukan, East Kalimantan.

Because the Indonesian government failed to handle the case
seriously the deportees were badly neglected, resulting in the
deaths of at least 85 and thousands of others starving and
suffering various diseases.

Indonesia's lack of serious response certainly caused concern
about the safety of the country's migrant workers in Malaysia.
The target of Malaysia's mass deportation operation was set at
around 1.2 million people, mostly comprising some 800,000
undocumented migrant workers of Indonesian origin.

Only about 250,000 of these Indonesians returned home under
an offered amnesty, while over 500,000 others remained in
Malaysia. It is these migrant workers that the Malaysian
government is targeting in its latest arrest and expulsion drive.

The Indonesian government's less than earnest endeavors can be
traced to its failure to oppose an article in a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) regarding migrant workers between Indonesia
and Malaysia that was signed in May 2004, which gave authority to
Malaysian employers to hold the passports of Indonesian migrant
workers. This effectively put their papers under their employers'
control making migrant workers' position subordinate to their
employers. In the event of conflict or disagreement, employers
will frequently hold onto workers' documents. Consequently, the
workers lose their papers and thus risk being considered illegal
immigrants.

The Indonesian government, too, has systematically stigmatized
and criminalized its undocumented migrant workers just as the
Malaysian government has done so. By calling them "illegal
Indonesian migrant workers", our government has effectively
blamed the victims.

The first thing the Indonesian government questions is the
legal or illegal status of migrant workers, though the cases they
face are serious and require immediate attention. The Indonesian
government's slow response to the death sentence imposed on
Suhaidi bin Asnawi, a migrant worker from Lombok, was because
this worker had no papers.

The same response was shown when two Indonesian migrant
workers received prison terms and lashes on Feb. 1, 2005 for
criminal acts. This attitude goes against Law No.37/1999 on
foreign relations that gives a mandate to the government -- in
this case Indonesian diplomatic missions abroad -- to provide
legal aid to Indonesian citizens involved in court cases
overseas, as victims as well as defendants.

In terms of manpower management, the government has also
failed to prevent the massive growth in undocumented labor
migration. This problem is very much rooted in the bureaucratic
red tape and corruption involved for Indonesian migrant workers
to obtain necessary documents to legally work overseas.

Such corruption imposes very high cost burdens upon migrant
workers through the imposition of arbitrary fees and wage
deductions. For this reason, many if not most migrant workers
choose to avoid these high costs and depart for overseas without
documents. Law No.39/2004 on overseas placement and protection of
Indonesian migrant workers has not made a significant impact on
labor placement management.

On the demand side, the exodus of migrant workers without
papers to Malaysia cannot be stemmed as long as Malaysian
companies continue to exploit their presence in order to maximize
profits. By recruiting and employing undocumented migrant
workers, these companies do not have to pay the levies that are
required for properly documented migrant workers, and are also
free to pay substandard wages because there is no obligation for
them to enter into or abide by work contracts. The Indonesian
government has never earnestly urged Malaysia to deal with these
demand-side irregularities and to punish the Malaysian firms
involved.

The three extensions to the amnesty -- originally until Nov.
1, 2004, then extended to Nov. 15, 2004, further to Dec. 31, 2004
and again to Jan. 31, 2005 because of the tsunami disaster --
should be understood not as Malaysian government's "benevolence"
but rather as the outcome of lobbying by Malaysian business who
feared mass departure of workers.

Most undocumented migrant workers serve the construction and
estate sectors, and losing so many of their workers so quickly
would have caused a major setback in plantation production --
Malaysia's major commodities -- and also disrupt Malaysia's
infrastructure development projects.

The above factors should have been used by the Indonesian
government as the basis of an analysis to find a solution to the
crisis confronting Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia. Thus
far the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia have assumed that
deportation is the only way to settle the issue of undocumented
migrant workers.

In its realization, however, deportation leaves many issues
unresolved. Instead, every time a deportation takes place,
tension increases in Indonesia-Malaysia diplomatic relations.
There is also great potential for violence and human rights
violations, especially when civilian vigilante groups are
mobilized. Massive accumulations of deportees at transit points
also leads to many serious problems, as was the case in Nunukan,
and comprehensive deportation management must be adopted.

One solution to deal with the problem of undocumented migrant
workers is legalization. This means sorting out these workers'
status problems by legalizing and handling their immigration
documents and working contracts in Malaysia, without sending them
back to Indonesia. Such a solution was chosen by the Korean
government in 2003 to deal with a similar problem of illegal
migrant workers in that country. By legalizing its problematic
migrant workers without sending them home, Korea saved itself
from a scarcity of labor upon which its industrial policy
depends, and at the same time systematically eliminated the
illegal recruitment of migrant workers.

In the case of such migrant workers in Malaysia, legalization
of their status could very much be a win-win solution. For the
Malaysian government it saves millions of Malaysian ringgit that
would otherwise be spent on raids and RELA mobilization.
Malaysian companies also make profits by avoiding a crisis of
labor scarcity. For the Indonesian government this option saves
costs that would otherwise go in anticipating massive numbers of
deportees. For migrant workers, legalization enables them to
obtain proper immigration papers and get back to work with no
more fear of raids.

The writer is labor policy analyst, Migrant CARE, Indonesian
Association for Sovereign Migrant Workers.