Indonesian labour rights organisations have vowed to continue pressuring their government to enact laws in protection of nationals abroad after a policy fiasco of the Malaysian government relating to Indonesian foreign workers left thousands waiting uncertainly at border towns.

The Consortium for Indonesian Migrant Workers' Defense (Kopbumi) said labour rights activists will push for laws which protect Indonesian foreign workers, particularly those employed in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

"No matter what the Malaysian government's policy is (with regard to Indonesian foreign workers), the issue is related to how badly the Indonesian government had acted during the recent developments," said Butiwibawa, an activist with Kopbumi.

He was speaking in reference to the Malaysian government's latest decision to reverse an initial ban on Indonesian workers in the construction and manufacturing sectors.

According to Butiwibawa, activists will also be campaigning for added responsibility of Indonesian embassy officials in monitoring the welfare of their nationals.

"The embassies and consulates have performed poorly in this area. They should learn from the Philippines officials who pay serious attention to the rights of their nationals working abroad," he said.

Indonesian embassy officials in Kuala Lumpur were unavailable for comment.

Inhuman conditions

In a related development, another Indonesian labour rights organisation, Women's Solidarity, said 20 persons deported earlier from Malaysia have died in the town of Nunukan in Kalimantan.

The organisation said the victims, including two babies and three women, died of diseases relating to poor health and sanitation resulting from their enforced living conditions in Nunukan after having been evicted from Malaysia.

"The condition of these migrant workers is alarming. At least 108,000 persons do not have access to proper shelters, food and medication," said Solidarity, adding that the border town normally has only 9,000 residents.

According to the organisation, the Sabah government had also announced its intention to repatriate another 103,000 illegal immigrants from the state in the next few days.

"This will definitely worsen the situation at Nunukan. Government authorities are also slow to respond to humanitarian needs of these people.

"The Indonesian government had contributed to the violation of these people's human rights by allowing them to be deported in this manner to live in inhuman conditions at border areas with Malaysia," it added in a press statement.

Since March, over 300,000 illegal immigrants left Malaysia in droves after the government implemented new provisions under the immigration law to jail and cane those found to be living and working illegally in the country.

The majority of these immigrants were Indonesian nationals who left in ferries to border towns and cities where they await an opportunity to return to jobs in Malaysia.