MALAYSIA - MIGRATION IN 1999

Together with Thailand and South Korea, Malaysia was the most vocal among the countries affected by the crisis in its resolve to repatriate migrant workers. However, also for Malaysia the issue proved more complex than expected. Not only is repatriation difficult and costly to carry out, but also it is not simple to modify the factors that determined a large presence of foreign labor force. Therefore, Malaysia continued in 1999 to encourage repatriation while at the same time admitting migrant workers to respond to the strong rebound of the economy. GDP growth was projected at 4.2 percent, while inflation declined to 2.3 percent and unemployment to 3.2 percent.

Among the measures taken up or strengthened by Malaysia against irregular migration were: greater surveillance of its coastline and border, more concerted efforts by police and Immigration Department, setting up of a mobile equipment to verify the authenticity of documents, screening of barter trading vessels entering the country, reducing the deportation process from three months to fourteen days to save on accommodation costs, nationwide operation to check identity cards issued to immigrants and mandatory caning of violators. More attention was focused on violations by employers and transport operators and bilateral discussion was held with Indonesian authorities, since most immigrants to Malaysia are from Indonesia. Also in May a new identity card for migrants (green card) was issued, combining a work permit, disembarkation card and visitor pass.

A total of 17,576 Indonesians had been detained from January to March, but repatriation operations were more complex than in 1998. In fact, less Indonesian vessels were available because of the economic slowdown and Indonesia stopped contributing RM100 per person deported. In 1998 72,841 irregular immigrants were deported, including 65,477 Indonesians, 2,727 Bangladeshis, 938 Burmese, 734 Thais, 604 Indians, 466 Pakistanis, 199 Filipinos, 121 Chinese and 575 from other countries. Repatriation costs varied from RM60 for Thais, to RM600 for Filipinos, and RM750 for Bangladeshis, Indians and Pakistanis. At the same time, the Immigration Department collected RM24 million in fines, paid mostly by overstaying aliens.

Due to repatriation which occurred in 1998, it was revealed in April that the number of registered foreign workers had declined from 1,033,497 to 713,821. Some 159,135 foreigners had left the country voluntarily since January 1998 while 187,486 were repatriated under the amnesty program ended 15 November 1998. Of the registered workers, 503,000 were employed in factories, plantations, and construction sites. In addition to registered workers, irregular migrants were estimated at one million, according to Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah, many of them in the plantation sector. At various time between July and August crackdowns were announced against workers who had become irregular since their employers had not renewed their working permits.  In July it was announced that 207,800 had become irregular, while in August it was reported that 135,851 had become irregular, including 71,244 Indonesians, 46,473 Bangladeshis, 7,039 Indians, 6,562 Thais and 990 Filipinos. The government was set to lose RM4.7 million in uncollected levies because of the non-renewal of permits.

Immigration to Sabah and Sarawak must be dealt separately, as they have a separate migration system and migrants holding identity cards released in these states cannot use them to travel to the peninsula. In Sarawak, employers were asked to register their workers with the Social Security Organisation and not to hire irregular migrants. As of the end of 1998, 2,399 employers had registered 45,859 workers, while 4,880, mostly Indonesians, had been deported. The General Operation Force reported that as of November 30 2,268 irregular migrants were arrested, down from 4,211 arrested in 1998, and 2,813 were deported.

Irregular migration was recognized as a major issue by the Sabah Chief Minister. According to government estimates the number of irregular migrants in Sabah in May was 500,000, while the registered workers were 157,000. However, the opposition has indicated that the estimate, corresponding to 25 percent of the workforce, was too low. A new detention center for irregular migrants, capable of holding 5,000 persons, was built at Kampung Kokol. The presence of foreigners with their families was also an issue for the Minister Wences Angang, who noted that foreigners accounted for 25 percent of the birth rate and suggested limiting the stay of foreigners to three to five years. A total of 14 operations were taken in the first nine months of the year to crack down on irregular migrants, resulting in the deportation of 15,450 migrants. However, the complex problem requires a careful approach, as recognized by the Chief Minister, since some sectors such as plantation and agriculture, depend between 60 to 80 percent on foreign labor force. Among measures imposed on foreigners were compulsory medical examination, and requiring foreigners to contribute to the Employees Provident Fund and school fees for their children.