Malaysia allows illegal migrants safe passage home to Indonesia for Eid festival

[SoleSurvivor]

Malaysia allows illegal migrants safe passage home to Indonesia for Eid festival

To stop more dying, illegal workers allowed home with fine upon return

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 27 July, 2014, 5:49am
UPDATED : Sunday, 27 July, 2014, 5:49am

Agence France-Presse in Kuala Lumpur

An Indonesian family waits for a ferry to take them home from a port outside Kuala Lumpur yesterday as the Eid ul-Fitr festival approaches. Photo: AFP

Malaysia is offering illegal Indonesians safe return home without being prosecuted to avoid them making secret journeys in rickety boats after several fatal accidents ahead of the Eid ul-Fitr festival.

At least four boats have sunk since last month as Indonesians, drawn to relatively affluent Malaysia for work, sought to go home for Eid ul-Fitr, Islam's biggest festival, which starts this week.

Dozens of travellers have drowned and scores more are missing.

Those wanting to return will be fined for being in Malaysia illegally, but will escape harsher prosecution, such as jail terms and caning, said a Home Ministry official who declined to be named.

Home Minister Zahid Hamidi was quoted by The Star yesterday as saying this was a "golden chance" for undocumented migrants. "The legal way will be safer with less hassle, compared [with] risking their lives while paying a hefty fine to syndicates" smuggling the migrants via sea, he told the daily newspaper.

In addition to the fine of at least 300 ringgit (HK$730), Indonesians have to pay 100 ringgit for a one-way pass to return home. The Home Ministry official did not say how much the maximum fine could be.

He added that the programme was running from this month until the end of December, and could be extended to other nationals later.

Malaysia has repeatedly offered amnesty to migrants in the past to reduce its large population of illegal workers, estimated to number two million.

But activists have warned that many will not be able to afford high fines, in addition to processing fees charged by private agents who are used by some migrants, to secure safe trips.

"My concern is that we do not have a very clear policy. It's not really service-oriented but rather profit-driven," Alex Ong of Migrant Care said, adding that his group had received complaints by several migrants of being arrested despite the offer of a safe return home.

Going back illegally costs them about 1,500 ringgit.

Foreigners from neighbouring Indonesia and other mostly poorer regional countries are drawn by plantation, construction and other jobs shunned by Malaysians.

Boat accidents are common, with three dead, eight missing and 10 rescued in the latest sinking off southern Malaysia on Thursday.

Eid ul-Fitr marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and festivities run for several weeks.