Malaysia To Expedite Return Of Indonesian Workers

Associated Press
Thursday, February 17, 2005

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 17 (AP)--Illegal Indonesian immigrants who leave Malaysia under a government amnesty will be allowed to return nearly immediately if they get their papers in order, the Indonesian ambassador said Thursday.

Malaysia's Home Ministry will cooperate with Indonesian Embassy officials to help hundreds of thousands of migrant workers come back to Malaysia swiftly and legally after the amnesty ends Feb. 28, said H. Rusdihardjo, the Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia.

Malaysia's willingness to bring back the people it is expelling is an indication of its heavy reliance on foreign labor to fill jobs in construction sites, plantations and other low-paying industries.

"Our people are hungry and they need these jobs here in Malaysia," Rusdihardjo told The Associated Press. "But Malaysia also needs our people to work here. So we must cooperate because we can help to meet each other's needs."

Authorities will open "one-stop processing centers" in major Indonesian cities and ports to issue travel documents and work permits for workers who wish to return, Rusdihardjo said.

Workers might be able to return to Malaysia within a week after they apply, Rusdihardjo said, adding that he expected the return of nearly all of the 400,000 Indonesians who have so far left Malaysia since the amnesty was launched last October.

The measures to cut red tape underscore improving bilateral ties following talks in Kuala Lumpur earlier this week between Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Rusdihardjo said.

Claiming that illegal immigrants were fueling crime and social problems, Malaysia last October encouraged 1 million mostly Indonesian illegal workers to leave voluntarily without fear of punishment. Hundreds of thousands took up the offer, but nearly 500,000 still remain.

Those arrested after March 1 are expected to be tried and deported after serving jail sentences and possibly being whipped. Officials have warned that they will also be blacklisted and barred from entering Malaysia ever again, even as tourists.

Besides the illegal workers, some 1.47 million Indonesians are in Malaysia with work permits. (Edited by Lena Lee).