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Malaysia boots out illegal
workers
By Anil Netto
PENANG
- These are traumatic times for undocumented migrant
workers and illegal immigrants in Malaysia as tough
amended immigration laws came into effect on Thursday.
If caught, illegal foreign workers and their employers
are now staring at a mandatory six-month jail term and
possibly up to six strokes of a thick rattan cane.
Not surprisingly, tens of thousands of desperate
migrant workers swamped ports and exit points in an
exodus of almost biblical proportions as the July 31
deadline for leaving the country approached.
Some 300,000 worried undocumented migrant
workers have fled for home under an amnesty declared on
March 22. Topping the list were Indonesians (244,000),
Indians (19,000) and Bangladeshis (17,000). Authorities
estimate that there are another 100,000-300,000 illegal
migrant workers still in the country, though 50,000 more
are expected to leave soon. Malaysia has some 750,000
legal foreign workers.
Taking a tough line, the
immigration director general was reported in the Star
national daily on Thursday as saying that the government
would not extend the July 31 deadline or offer another
amnesty. Those without work permits, departure tickets
or special passes to prove they are returning are likely
to be arrested and charged under the tough new laws. But
the Jakarta Post on Thursday quoted the Indonesian
manpower minister as saying he appreciated Malaysia's
decision to extend the amnesty period from July 31 to
August 30 for foreigners working illegally in Malaysia.
At a small terminal in Penang on Tuesday, scores
of Indonesians sat outside the offices of travel agents.
Many of them, clutching passports and travel documents,
looked forlorn or pensive. Trying to get inside any
travel agent's office proved nearly impossible. Open the
door and dozens more Indonesians were crowded inside,
making it impossible to step indoors.
Inside the
terminal, in the waiting area, many more Indonesians
were slumped on rows of seats waiting for the long ride
home to Medan in Sumatra. Over in Medan and its
outskirts, many of the returning migrants are now housed
in numerous dormitories waiting for the provincial
administration's help. Jakarta is urging its regional
governors to assist stranded migrant workers by
providing accommodation and financial aid to enable them
to return to their home towns.
Across the South
China Sea, in Sabah, thousands of undocumented migrants
are catching ferries back to the southern Philippines.
Ostensibly being sent back because they are
deemed to be a security threat, illegal migrant workers
now realize they are no longer wanted in Malaysia, whose
economy they had helped to fuel during the boom years of
the early 1990s.
Many had come from Indonesia,
India, Bangladesh and the Philippines in search of
better life, fleeing from the cycles of poverty and
violence at home. Now they are once again staring at an
uncertain future.
Others such as the Muslim
Rohingyas of Myanmar and Acehnese asylum seekers could
face persecution if they are sent back home.
On
Thursday, police arrested 135 asylum-seekers, mostly
Rohingyas, Acehnese and other Indonesians, outside the
United Nations refugee agency here in a bid to escape
the tough new laws. They are likely to be handed over to
the Immigration Department, which will decide if they
will face punishments under the new law. More arrests
are expected.
Activists
complain the new laws do not
tackle the root of the problem: human trafficking and
unscrupulous agents who prey on the desperation among
the poor.
For undocumented migrant workers, the
so-called borderless world that globalization envisaged
is a myth. Mobility of labor is only for the rich and
the corporations that cross borders in a blink; at the
end of the day, the poor are unwelcome outside their
home countries.
While it is true that only
"illegal" workers are being sent back, for years their
presence in Malaysia seemed to be overlooked as they
toiled at menial jobs that Malaysians shunned.
Now the construction industry, which relies
heavily on migrant workers, could face work disruptions
after the exodus of migrant workers.
At
construction sites, many migrant workers lived in poor
surroundings that Malaysians knew nothing about. Perched
precariously on scaffolding with loads on their
shoulders, the foreign workers took huge risks daily. As
long as they were needed to build the country's
magnificent monuments, it seemed they were tolerated,
but only barely.
Making up 5-10 percent of the
country's population, they were scapegoats, blamed for
everything from higher crime rates to outbreaks of
disease to Islamic militancy. And when disturbances -
the causes of which remain unclear - involving migrant
workers erupted, it proved to be the last straw.
Others, however, wonder if the decision to send
back undocumented migrant workers has anything to do
with uncertain economic prospects. The US economy has
shown a surprising weakness of late, other regional
economies in Asia are slowing down and Malaysia is
unlikely to be spared the turbulence. Jobs could be at
stake.
But if Malaysia starts whipping illegal
migrant workers, it could raise unease among its
neighbors. Activists in Indonesia say the arguments used
to justify the deportation of Indonesian workers are
unacceptable because Malaysia is actually in need of a
huge number of workers to run its industries and
plantations.
They point to migrant workers'
allegations of extortion as one of the reasons for their
frustration in Malaysia. They are also calling on the
Indonesian government to ratify the international
convention on the protection and rights of all migrant
workers and their families to help safeguard Indonesian
migrants working overseas.
(©2002 Asia Times
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