Workers will have to pay Rp4m to work in KL

Workers will have to pay Rp4m to work in KL

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia and Malaysia have launched a one-stop service that
requires Indonesian migrant workers to pay a Rp 3 million
(US$320) fee to obtain the necessary documents to work legally in
Malaysia.

Director General of Labor Export at the Manpower and
Transmigration Ministry, I Gusti Made Arka, said the two
governments had agreed to impose administrative and training
costs on all workers wanting to return to Malaysia under the one-
stop service program available at five ports across Indonesia.

"With the simplified procedure, workers are required to pay Rp
2,990,000 to cover their placement and protection costs. Each
worker will pay a total of Rp 4 million, which includes their
transport costs from their home villages to their workplace in
Malaysia," he said on Monday.

Arka said that the one-stop service involving relevant
government officers from the two countries was available as of
Monday in provincial capitals and seaports in North Sumatra,
Jambi, Riau, West Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.

"The service will be also available as of Feb. 28 in Jakarta,
Central and East Java, West and East Nusa Tenggara and South
Sulawesi," he added.

Migrant Care, a nongovernmental organization providing
advocacy for migrant workers in Malaysia, criticized the one-stop
service program saying it was neither effective nor efficient.

"The one-stop service will not be effective in attracting back
some 300,000 illegal immigrants in Malaysia to seek the necessary
documents because of the high price being charged," said Anis
Hidayat, the coordinator of Migrant Care.

She said many workers who had already returned home were also
not interested in obtaining the documents because they could not
afford to pay the price.

"The government is looking less than serious in dealing with
illegal immigrants. It should provide documents to workers free
of charge to help them seek jobs in neighboring countries due to
its failure to create jobs at home," she added.

Anis estimated that some 300,000 illegal immigrants remained
in Malaysia because they had no money to return home as their
salaries were being withheld by their employers.

"It is impossible for these workers to come home and obtain
documents such as passports and working visas," she said.

Malaysian authorities will start a massive crackdown on
illegal immigrants on March 1. The Malaysian government has hired
650,000 civilian volunteers to launch raids on plantations,
construction projects and other places employing illegal workers.

After offering a three-month amnesty that ended on Jan. 31,
2005, Malaysia has delayed the raids to allow the Indonesian
government time to concentrate on the handling of the earthquake
and tsunami disaster that devastated Aceh and North Sumatra on
Dec. 26, 2004.

Arka said that besides providing the one-stop documentation
service, Indonesia and Malaysia have recently agreed on
regulations on labor contracts between workers and their
employers.

"According to the agreement made recently in Kuala Lumpur,
recruitment of workers will be based on job orders that are
released by Malaysian employers and approved by the Malaysian
home ministry, while employment must be based on labor contracts
to be held by Indonesian workers with copies sent to the
Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur," he said.