Migrant workers needlessly charged for return

Alex Ong | Mar 16, 05 2:00pm

The hiring of undocumented foreign workers has become an open secret among all walks of life in the Malaysia economy. Employers have embraced the fact that they need the cheapest cost to maximise their profit goals. Foreign undocumented workers have become the biggest cost saving input for the Malaysian economy.

But local employers are not the only ones making money from migrant workers. The recent exodus of undocumented Indonesian migrant workers is a big ‘harvest’ for Indonesian employment agents grouped under the Konsortium Program Amnesty (KPA).

Malaysian employers who want their Indonesian workers back, will have to fork out RM1,217 for each. Within a few weeks the KPA cartel will reap at least RM600 million from Malaysian
employers.

This exploitative consortium has been given the franchise to exploit the undocumented workers who wish to return to work in Malaysia. The KPA does not have to find either workers or employers. There is a ready market of both.

This shouldn’t be the case. Workers who know their employers well should have been given the chance to just go through the normal process of entering Malaysia without having to go through the KPA.

What employers need is just the approval letter from the Home Ministry, while the Indonesian workers just need their passports, the BP2TKI form, their medical check-up report, a temporary work permit from Malaysia’s one-stop centre in Indonesia and a return ticket.

The involvement of KPA and a few Malaysian opportunists has slowed down the return of the Indonesian migrants workers to Malaysia.

The KPA has imposed many illegal charges on the returning Indonesian workers, such as RM203.20 for document handling and transportation and another RM60.95 for food (two meals) and lodging.

Besides this, the ceiling price for the pre-entry induction course was set at RM38 by Malaysian government, but one KPA member - PT Triwira Perkasa of Dumai - is charging RM53.60.

Then the biometric data entry process project handled by Iris Technologies Berhad will cost each Indonesian worker another RM264 (for 10 fingers). This is broad daylight robbery - why should one fingerprint cost RM26.40?

To ensure a less problematic process, Malaysia needs to deal only with the Indonesian manpower department and not with Indonesian employment agents (PJTKI) or other intermediaries. Government to government arrangement would enhance the process and do away with the human trading companies.

The Malaysian government should also consider allowing Indonesian manpower contractors to set up base here to handle Indonesian workers and their problems. These contractors could also sort out matters with Malaysian employers.

Indonesian migrant workers are the best bet for our economy. Vietnamese, Chinese and Bangladeshi workers have all proven to be unsuitable in the past. The nationality of migrant workers should be chosen carefully to ensure that they can fit in comfortably and not cause social problems.