The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 02/03/2009 9:39 PM | National
Around 100,000 Indonesian laborers in Malaysia are expected to return to Indonesia this year as Malaysia experiences an economic slowdown.
"Just before Chinese New Year, about 10,000 workers in Johor had already been sent back to Indonesia. We expect an increase in layoffs in the near future," Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Da'i Bachtiar said, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
However, Da'i added Malaysia's Human Resources minister, S. Subramaniam, had told the Indonesian Embassy that the government would try its best to reduce the numbers of workers being sent home.
He also said Malaysia was currently host to 2 million Indonesian workers, 800,000 of whom were working illegally.
"We've got more than 300,000 workers in the manufacturing sector, and a third of them will gradually be laid off," Da'i said.
Those working as domestic helpers, however, will be least affected by the economic downturn, the ambassador pointed out, "Unless their employers decide to send them home." (amr)
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