Illegal Workers: Indonesia-Malaysia's Collective Mistake

Antara News
Thursday, February 3, 2005

BANDAR LAMPUNG: Chairman of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama Hasyim Muzadi said on Thursday that the increasingly complicated problem of illegal workers in Malaysia constituted a collective mistake by both Indonesia and Malaysia that needed an urgent solution.

Indonesia's mistake was allowing its citizens to work illegally, while the Malaysian side it was its willingness to accept them, he said.

Malaysia decided on Wednesday to indefinitely extend the amnesty for the third time for about 400,000 illegal workers remaining in Malaysia.

Hasyim expressed concern as to why the problem was causing an uproar now. If both countries had been strict in enforcing their regulations from the beginning, then such an uproar would not
have emerged, he said.

Hasyim said that during his recent visit to Malaysia he found out that the illegal workers were sought by local employers because they were cheaper than legal ones.

"To further speed up the resolution of the problem, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has to hold meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi," Hasyim said, adding that the problem could not be entrusted to officials at the technical level.