JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia: When Malaysian officials went to an island near the site of a boat accident that killed dozens of Indonesians on their way home last week, they were told the vessel was plying illegally with more than double the permitted number of passengers aboard.
For Paul Khiu, commander of the marine police in Johor state at the southern tip of peninsula Malaysia, the discovery came as no surprise.
“These boats can take 30 to 50 people, but they always overload,” Khiu told Reuters on his return from Batam island, on the other side of the Singapore Strait.
The boat had come from Johor, a one-hour voyage, carrying Indonesian workers and their families before it capsized near Batam.
Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians are illegal migrants in Malaysia, doing construction, plantation and domestic work that pays much more than they could earn at home. Some have lived in Malaysia for years and have also brought over their families.
Advocacy groups say the illegal workers are subjected to many abuses and the two governments are doing little to address the situation. Between 600 and 700 illegal Indonesian workers die in Malaysia each year of various causes, including disease, work accidents, drowning and starvation, said Anis Hidayah of the Migrant Care group.
A spokesman for Indonesia’s foreign ministry, Armanatha Nasir, said illegal workers remained “a challenge” but both governments were committed to finding a solution.
Malaysia’s Home Affairs Ministry said it would soon be meeting Indonesian Embassy officials for preliminary talks on the illegal workers issue, but did not give any further details.
The government had said in March that it would stop bringing in new foreign workers in a bid to encourage businesses to hire locally and also to stop illegal migration.
It had launched a major exercise to legalize foreign workers in 2011, including an amnesty that expired in 2014.
For Paul Khiu, commander of the marine police in Johor state at the southern tip of peninsula Malaysia, the discovery came as no surprise.
“These boats can take 30 to 50 people, but they always overload,” Khiu told Reuters on his return from Batam island, on the other side of the Singapore Strait.
The boat had come from Johor, a one-hour voyage, carrying Indonesian workers and their families before it capsized near Batam.
Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians are illegal migrants in Malaysia, doing construction, plantation and domestic work that pays much more than they could earn at home. Some have lived in Malaysia for years and have also brought over their families.
Advocacy groups say the illegal workers are subjected to many abuses and the two governments are doing little to address the situation. Between 600 and 700 illegal Indonesian workers die in Malaysia each year of various causes, including disease, work accidents, drowning and starvation, said Anis Hidayah of the Migrant Care group.
A spokesman for Indonesia’s foreign ministry, Armanatha Nasir, said illegal workers remained “a challenge” but both governments were committed to finding a solution.
Malaysia’s Home Affairs Ministry said it would soon be meeting Indonesian Embassy officials for preliminary talks on the illegal workers issue, but did not give any further details.
The government had said in March that it would stop bringing in new foreign workers in a bid to encourage businesses to hire locally and also to stop illegal migration.
It had launched a major exercise to legalize foreign workers in 2011, including an amnesty that expired in 2014.
