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.