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The
Nunukan Tragedy Exposes The ASEAN To Serious Rifts
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Illegal Indonesian workers struggle for food at a refugee camp in the Indonesian town of Nunukan
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By
Kazi Mahmood, IOL South Asia Correspondent
KUALA
LUMPUR, Sept 15 (IslamOnline) - Nunukan, a remote small island among
the 15,000 Islands that constitutes Indonesia, is the site of the
latest human tragedy in South East Asia.
It
is a region that is becoming as volatile as never before with politics
and diplomacy failing to deliver what the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) is framed upon, peace, stability and economic
progress.
Nunukan,
some 1,700 kilometers northeast of Jakarta, in East Kalimantan, off
Tawau, is a tiny island -- a mere dot on the map - and has been in the
news lately since the arrival there of some 22,000 illegal Indonesian
workers expelled from Malaysia.
The
island's only health center with its staff of 10, only three of whom
are on full-time on duty personnel, is barely equipped to meet the
needs of Nunukan's 40,000 inhabitants, let alone those of an
additional 22,000 deported migrant workers from East Malaysia who are
stranded there at present.
It
is not this sad state of affairs that has enraged the Indonesians and
embroiled Malaysia in rift with its huge but poor neighbor of 212
million people. It is the fact that several people have died in the
camp that is holding the expelled illegal workers from Malaysia.
However,
the state of affairs on the island is an indication why Indonesia is
unable to feed its own people and why these people are forced to seek
refuge in Malaysia, where the grass is definitely greener than their
own home.
One
of the principles that guide the ASEAN is that members of the grouping
should not harm other members. In the wake of Nunukan, there is bound
to be a drastic change in the theories that run the politics of the
region.
With
at least 64 workers and their children who have reportedly died on the
Nunukan Island in the past few days of hunger and disease, it is
obvious that Jakarta is unable to properly address the plight of the
hundreds of thousands of workers deported from Malaysia.
Malaysia
became the “enemy” that has to be targeted and the few
demonstrations were indications that things were going out of hand
between the two Muslim nations. The prompt intervention of the leaders
of both countries has so far calmed the tensions but things can flare
up anytime since the nerves are impulsive.
Malaysia
is also at the center of a terrible political row with the Philippines
too, with the unfortunate death of 13 children who succumbed to the
avarices of both the detention camps in Sabah, on the Island of Borneo
and the rough travel in the ships from Malaysia to the Philippines.
If
in Indonesia it is not really the death of the refugees that has
aroused the anger of a large section of the people (a majority of
Indonesians according to polls on Indonesian websites said they were
angered by Malaysia’s new policies), in the Philippines. The sight
of the dead children caused a lot of emotions.
Indonesia
took a heavy blow in its pride with the caning of its citizens in
Malaysia, charged for illegal entry or overstaying in the country of
the tallest buildings on earth. Its top politician and ‘king
maker’ Amien Rais who is a presidential hopeful for 2004 heavily
criticized the Malaysian authorities for “their inhuman” acts of
canning, “something which is not of this age,” he added.
In
Manila, the tension has prompted senators and congressmen to raise the
old issue of Philippine’s claims on the Island of Sabah, which is
vastly populated by Filipino descendants. The Filipino regime headed
by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is resistant to the idea of staking its
claim back on Sabah; a province it said was its own in the early
60’s.
Sabah
has been for long the entry point for Filipino workers, a majority of
them are Muslims, sources said, into Malaysia. Many of them were
holding forged identity cards (IC) observers in the region added.
Forged IC’s were available even at night markets, a government
agency reported recently. This shows the degree of tolerance that was
reigning in Sabah before the crack down.
The
sudden expulsion of the people of all ages from the territory has
angered the migrants who felt at home in Sabah. The change of policies
in Malaysia did not go down well with the immigrants and many promised
to either go back to Malaysia sooner or later or to support all claims
to territorial integration of Sabah into the Philippines.
Nunukan
in Indonesia has long been the base from which Indonesian workers
found their way into East Malaysia, where most of them were employed
on the agricultural estates that are the foundation of the region's
economy. These workers were important foreign exchange earners for the
eastern parts of Indonesia.
The
Filipinos in Sabah were altogether a relief to the Manila, since many
of them could have become members of the Abu Sayyaf or other militant
groups. Their return to the Mindanao could pose serious security
problems to Manila, the military feared in the Philippines according
to rebel sources.
The
Malaysian authorities had no reason to address the situation of
illegality of the migrants before September 11th.
The advent of the Abu Sayyaf and the kidnapping of foreigners off
Sabah, on the island of Pahlawan, did not force the Malaysian
authorities to carry a crack down on illegals in the state altogether.
Both
Indonesia and the Philippines now have reasons to hold grudges against
Malaysia, for not showing solidarity to the two poor nations who
apparently dependent largely on Malaysia’s eagerness to allow these
workers on its territory in the first place.
Both
Indonesia and the Philippines are facing acute economic problems and
additional mouths to feed will not help their problems.
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A family of illegal Indonesian workers rest at a refugee camp in the Indonesian town of Nunukan
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Malaysia
on the other hand still needs foreign workers to replenish its lack of
workforce in several crucial sectors, including agriculture,
manufacturing, construction and other services. Malaysians are not
interested in filling these posts, preferring to seek a blue-collar
job in government or private sectors. Many Malaysians are unemployed
but are engaged in small-scale businesses.
This
leaves the economic sectors without manpower, hence the need for
foreign workers. All these sectors have drastically suffered since the
expulsion of illegal workers and a reverse in the policy was noted in
early August to allow the return of thousands of Indonesian workers
into Malaysia.
However,
the regime of Mahathir Mohamad is currently putting emphasis on
security threats that could exist in Malaysia. It has cracked down on
Islamic militants during the past two years; it has also tightened the
grip on the freedom of information in a bid to prevent the circulation
of sensitive news to the mainstream public.
The
latest events in Kuala Lumpur clearly indicate that Malaysia is trying
to clear
its
borders of the excess of foreign workers and of illegals. It will
surely tighten the rules on the import of foreign manpower in the
coming months. It is also cracking on the Party Islam Se Malaysia
(PAS), attacking the growing opposition party on its own platform of
Islamization of the country.
Will
all this clean-up this lead to further limitation of democracy in
Malaysia or is it only a temporary situation that is bound to ensure a
safe leadership transition within the ruling National Front (NF) after
the much publicized announcement that Mahathir is resigning in October
next year?
The
most plausible theory is that Malaysia is currently facing a downward
slope in the economy, with capital input falling behind in comparison
to increased expenditures. This is forcing the authorities to act
briskly against all pockets of potential social flare-ups in the
country, hence the expulsion of foreign workers and the offensive
against the largest opposition party in the country. 
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