Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
I Gusti Made Arka, the director-general of labour export at the Ministry of
Labour and Transmigration told malaysiakini by telephone that only 6,000 permits
have been issued by the Malaysian authorities since the end of the amnesty for
illegal workers.
<p>"This is too few … the number of Indonesian workers who returned home
during the amnesty period alone was 152,000," he said.</p>
<p>However, The Jakarta Post reported earlier that 400,000 Indonesians had returned
to their country, and that 350,000 are currently unemployed.</p>
<p>According to Gusti Made, Malaysia has allocated only 57,000 permits for all
sending countries, and these permits were not only for Indonesia but also for
workers from Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Burma and Thailand.</p>
<p>To address the shortage of working permits, he said the Indonesian government
would negotiate with its Malaysian counterpart to raise the total number of
permits to 200,000 for all countries.</p>
<p>He also said he anticipated about 100,000 Indonesian workers to return to Malaysia
eventually.</p>
<p>The amnesty for illegal migrant workers ended on March 1, leading to a massive
crackdown by authorities.</p>
<p>Malaysia has relied heavily on migrant workers especially from Indonesia. The
construction and plantation sectors have been badly affected due to the dire
labour shortage.</p>
<p><b>Extended stay</b></p>
<p>Gusti Made conceded that procedures imposed by the Indonesian government had
thwarted the return of the workers to Malaysia, thereby leading the latter to
consider importing 100,000 Pakistani male workers to fill vacancies.</p>
<p>He explained that the Indonesian government wants its nationals to work in
Malaysia legally, but denied the claim that the relatively high processing fee
has delayed the process.</p>
<p>"The problem is because of the permits … I would like to send them legally,
not illegally. But we have just a limited number permits from the (Malaysian)
Home Ministry," he said.</p>
<p>He claimed that many Indonesians have yet to apply to return to Malaysia because
most of them want to stay longer with their families.</p>
<p>"They told me they want to stay with their families (for a while). They
have been away from home for very long, so they want to stay longer," he
said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia H Rusdihrajo today declined to
comment on whether his apology to Malaysians was sincere. He had made the gesture
after Indonesians had burnt Malaysian flags in protest in Jakarta.</p>
<p>"I don’t want to talk about this any more. This is over," he told
reporters at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.</p>
<p>He has been summoned by the Indonesian Parliament to explain his remarks that
the protestors were people "who are hungry and have become angry … angry
people become insane". His explanation was accepted by the House.
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