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Malaysian Official: Non-Indonesian Workers Cause Cultural Problems
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| Rioting Indonesian
factory workers |
KUALA
LUMPUR, Feb 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Malaysian employers have
urged the government to relax a recent clampdown on Indonesian migrant labor
sparked by workers rioting, a report said Saturday.
The
move to restrict Indonesians to plantation or household work will disrupt work
force planning and corporate operations, Malaysian Employers' Federation
president Jaafar Carrim was quoted as saying by Malaysian Newspaper, The Star.
"There
is no guarantee that those from other countries will not create any social
problems. We hope the government would give employers more flexibility in
recruiting cost-effective workers," he said.
Jaafar said Indonesians were more suitable because of the culture, language and
working environment shared by the two countries.
"Problems of communication and the lack of skills are anticipated with the
recruitment of non-Indonesian foreign workers," he added.
The government early this month clamped down on Indonesian workers following a
factory riot by 400 Indonesian textile workers on January 17 over police drug
tests on co-workers.
Three days later more than 70 Indonesian construction workers armed with
machetes went on a rampage at Cyberjaya, a hi-tech suburb south of Kuala Lumpur.
The government said it would only hire Indonesians as maids and plantation
workers and take workers from Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Laos, Myanmar, the
Philippines and India to fill positions in other sectors.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Friday January 18, 2002 the
measure would have to be adopted due to a series of troubles from Indonesian
workers creating problems for Malaysia.
"Indonesian workers have been giving us many problems, sneaking into the
country. When caught they become violent. We cannot accept such behavior,"
he told reporters.
Mahathir said in the future, the government would give priority to
non-Indonesian foreign workers who have not created too many problems for
Malaysia.
He said Malaysia was unhappy over the behavior of foreign workers, who created
problems to this country and such workers would be speedily deported to their
country of origin.
Malaysia since last year, limited the employment of Bangladeshi workers. Many of
them were involved in robberies and their marrying local Malaysian girls has not
pleased the authorities.
The foreign workers were guests in this country and as such, they should respect
this country's laws, the Prime Minister said, adding that it was the
government's wish to reduce the number of foreign workers. However, this could
not be done due to the shortage of local workers in certain sectors.
Indonesians were previously employed in almost all sectors.
Malaysian Home Ministry Secretary-General Aseh Che Mat last month said
Indonesians made up 566,983 out of 769,566 legal foreign workers in the country.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda is to head a delegation to Kuala
Lumpur next week for a meeting to address the workers' issue, officials said.
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