Thousands of migrant workers in Malaysia homeward bound

Thousands of migrant workers in Malaysia homeward bound

Fadli, Tanjung Pinang, Riau

While large-scale deportations are not due to take place until
after Sept. 20, thousands of Indonesians working illegally in
Malaysia have already started to leave.

An official with the Tanjung Pinang Manpower and Social
Welfare Agency said over the weekend that two large groups of
migrants had arrived at the port since late July.

The agency's oversight and monitoring division Hendryk Arifin
said the two groups had arrived at Tanjung Uban and Sri Bintan
Pura ports.

"The first group consisting of hundreds of migrant workers
arrived at Sri Bintan Pura port on July 27, while the second
group, comprised of 630 workers, arrived on July 31 at Tanjung
Uban port," Hendryk said.

It was not clear if the workers had left the neighboring
country of their own volition, or had been deported by the
Malaysian authorities.

Malaysia has agreed to delay the deportation of some 500,000
Indonesian illegal migrants until after the Sept. 20 election at
Indonesia's request. The Indonesian government fears that the
earlier deportation of the workers could pose a security threat
as the country prepares to complete its first direct presidential
election.

Hendryk said that the repatriation of the migrants was been
carried out without the involvement of his agency, despite the
fact that the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration's office in
Tanjung Pinang was being used to shelter newly arrived deported
workers.

"Thus far, we haven't made too many preparations to prepare
for the deportations, which we expect to be large scale," he
said.

As an anticipatory measure, the agency has appointed two
migrant worker recruitment agencies (PJTKI), PT Tunas Karya Utama
and PT Mahkota Indosima, to help it in repatriating the illegal
workers from the neighboring country.

Hendryk said that the early repatriations may have been
carried out PT Mahkota Indosima. "However, we don't know where
the company got the money to bring our workers home," he said.

The Jakarta Post observed on Sunday that the returning workers
were being housed in shabby and dilapidated shelters owned by PT
Mahkota Indosima.

A security guard declined to give more information on
conditions experienced by the workers inside the shelter.

In Tanjung Pinang alone, there are 20 migrant worker
recruitment agencies encouraging desperate jobseekers to try
their luck abroad.

Contacted separately, Association of Tanjung Pinang Migrant
Labor Recruitment Agencies secretary Ronaldo Hiptik said that PT
Mahkota Indosima had put the lives of the returning workers at
grave risk when it transported them to Tanjung Pinang Port from
Malaysia.

"The maximum capacity of the Samudra Jaya, which transported
the workers here, is only 300 passengers. But the company
squeezed 630 workers onto it. I don't know how they could get
away with that," he said.

He said that the manpower agency should have taken action
against the firm.

In a related development, two migrant worker recruitment
agencies filed complaints with the Tanjung Pinang police over
alleged document forgery by Malaysian national Muhammad Haris Bin
Chalik.

The suspect was alleged to have forged Malaysian work permits
for 96 Indonesian workers.