KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — Jakarta will soon impose a no-entry list for Malaysian employers who abuse Indonesian workers, according to its ambassador Hermono.
The Indonesian envoy to Malaysia who goes by only one name told news portal Malaysiakini in an interview published today that the travel blacklist is part of beefed up measures to prevent exploitation of its citizens working here.
“National dignity is above all else,” he was quoted as saying.
According to the news report, the Indonesian Decree of the Minister of Law and Human Rights Number 38 made in 2001 empowers its envoys to make requests to ban entry to certain travellers for reasons that include exploitation of Indonesian citizens.
The first Malaysians who could be subject to the travel blacklist are reportedly husband-and-wife Radzuan Abu Hadzim and Rosnajihah Ramli, who were recently acquitted of human trafficking charges on December 9, Malaysiakini reported.
“Radzuan and Rosnajihah may have been acquitted of trafficking charges under Section 12 of the amended Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007/22 (Atipsom), but if justice is not served, they will be the first Malaysians barred entry into Indonesia for exploiting their Indonesian worker,” Hermono was quoted as saying.
He also indicated that it would not make a difference if the Indonesians reported to be abused are undocumented workers or otherwise, or whether the Malaysian employers have been convicted in court or otherwise.
Radzuan and Rosnajihah were reported to have taken in 60-year-old undocumented Indonesian Yati Karyati into their home in Bukit Jelutong, Selangor for seven years.
A mother of five, Yati was reported to have been rescued from the couple’s home by the Selangor Labour Department in March following a complaint by her distressed daughter through a non-governmental organisation in Indonesia.
Yati claimed that she had been working for the couple over the past seven years, was barred access to a phone, and was owed RM84,000 in unpaid wages.
Hermano told Malaysiakini that many Malaysian employers hire undocumented Indonesians and falsely promise to get them proper working papers only to stall on paying them wages on the belief that they would not be reported.
“They are also confident the law will not catch up with them because the worker was always free to walk out of the house anytime,” he was quoted as saying.
He held up the court verdict on Yati’s Atipsom case as an example to back his assertion.
Indonesians represent the largest group of migrant labour in Malaysia,.
The International Labour Organization estimates that there are 690,659 documented workers in Malaysia, with undocumented workers driving the number higher into the millions.
In July, former Malaysian human resources minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan and his Indonesian counterpart Ida Fauziyah acknowledged the need to tackle human trafficking.
The ministers also agreed that there was a need to speed up the deportation of undocumented migrants, especially those from vulnerable groups.
