Thousands of repatriated Indonesians migrant workers are hanging around towns and cities near ports in their homeland, hoping for a favourable bilateral solution to their predicament.

These workers left Malaysia last month during the government's amnesty period for illegal immigrants that has caused confusion on both sides of the border.

Leaders of the two countries Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and President Megawati Sukarnoputri met last week amidst expectations that an agreement on labour issues would be hammered out.

However, at the conclusion of the two-day meeting in Bali, both leaders appeared to be at pains to sidestep the issue which had dominated recent press coverage in the two countries.

Part of this is due to the conflicting political and economic priorities of the Malaysian government.

Pros and cons of decision

There are strong reasons for Malaysia to retain Indonesian workers since they are most able to fill in manpower shortages in key industries requiring large numbers of low-skilled labour. They speak the same language as Malaysians and are familiar with the work practices and culture of the land.

However, there are also political reasons to reduce the number of Indonesians in the country.

As Mahathir pointed out to his hosts, there are around two million foreign workers in the country, a number equivalent to about 10 percent of the population. Most of these workers are undocumented Indonesians whose increasing numbers have caused uneasiness amongst locals.

To resolve the two issues, an attempt was made to induce employers to replace Indonesian workers with other nationalities but this too, ran into problems with the local employers and the Indonesian government.

Economic considerations

The Mahathir delegation could have been reluctant to address the immigrant issue during the Bali meeting because of uncertainty of whether local industries would be able to cope with the sudden deprivation of Indonesian migrant workers after having relied on them for over a decade.

The construction industry, among the most vocal of sectors in opposing the ban on employment of Indonesian workers, have clearly stated that disruptions to their business will certainly spill on to various other sectors.

The Malaysian economy, striving to achieve credible 4 percent growth for the year, is hardly able to afford any negative signals to potential investors.

Another consideration of the Malaysian government is the likely predicament faced by its Indonesian counterpart should Malaysia persist with her policy.

Quick turnaround envisioned

The Indonesian government, which is still recovering painfully from the economic downturn of 1997, clearly welcomes the large contribution of foreign exchange repatriated by their workers abroad and is not keen to see this source of income reduced.

In 1997, Indonesian foreign workers in Malaysia repatriated about RM1.7 billion. This figure rose to RM6.5 billion in 2001.

This is evident from Jakarta's response to the mass repatriation of Indonesian workers by addressing only one aspect of the latter's intention that is, to reduce the number of illegal workers.

Jakarta pointedly overlooked the other aim of the Malaysian government to reduce the number of Indonesians in the country, and envisioned only a quick turnaround for its workers to enter Malaysia legally.

Several days into August, when strict immigration laws came into effect in Malaysia, allowing for the caning of illegal immigrants, a taskforce was set up in Jakarta to undertake proper documentation of workers at Indonesian ports so as to allow their return to Malaysia.

The taskforce comprising prominent ministers and high-ranking enforcement officials announced that its main task was to establish how to arrange for the legal return of the migrant workers to Malaysia in the shortest time possible.

The members are Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, Justice and Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Transportation Minister Agum Gumelar, Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah and National Police Chief General Da'i Bachtiar.

The Malaysian government's reluctance to clearly explain its stand may have given the recently repatriated Indonesian workers reasons to expect that they will return to jobs across the border.

This was compounded by yesterday's announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that the government had reversed its ban on allowing in new Indonesians workers for the construction sector a key employer of illegal workers prior to the recent crackdown.

Protests in Indonesia

Kuala Lumpur may well have been concerned about mounting internal pressures on the Megawati government to respond to perceived ill-treatment of nationals by a neighbour.

Last week, a coalition of Indonesian labour rights and non-governmental organisations had threatened to file a class action lawsuit against their government.

This was followed by a mass protest outside the Indonesian parliament by some 2,000 labour activists calling for the resignation of Manpower and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea for failing to resolve the impasse.

Jacob, in turn, not only left the Bali meeting early in frustration over the unwillingness of the two governments to discuss the foreign labour issue, but also offered to resign as a gesture of apology.

The Indonesian press, which has been hostile towards Malaysian policy and Indonesian inaction, is likely to continue exerting pressure on Megawati. Should things escalate, relations between the two countries may suffer as has happened in the past.

Quiet solutions

In retrospect, Malaysia's rhetoric and weak enforcement in reducing the number of Indonesians in the country is, not surprising as previous responses to the problem were mainly in reaction to periodic outbursts of anti-immigrant sentiment.

However, both countries have usually reached consensus on such sensitive matters alongside bilateral trade-offs in other areas.

Mahathir and Megawati, during last week's meeting, agreed to five memoranda of understanding on various deals. Among these were several lucrative deals for Malaysian companies.

It is not inconceivable that a quiet understanding may have been reached once again. Whether or not this translates hope into jobs for the repatriated workers hangs very much in the balance.