The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) call to the government to declare an amnesty to allow the estimated 2.1 million illegal foreign workers to leave the country is a worthy suggestion that the government should seriously consider. I thinks the amnesty proposal has all plus points, given the current economic and crime situation and local unemployment. The last amnesty provided to Indonesian workers was from July 1, 2004 to February 2005. It was very successful and some 230,000 such workers left the country voluntarily.
MTUC had received hundreds of requests from these workers, especially those whose visas had expired, that they wanted to return to their country of origin. However, the cost of getting the documentation was rather high and the workers could not afford it.
A spokesman of MTUC said it cost the workers a total of RM2,000 to get the papers to go back, and it included a fine of RM300 for overstaying, RM600 for airfare and RM1,100 for processing the application through specified agents.
Under an amnesty the workers need not pay anything as the cost of repatriation would be borne by their country.
He added an amnesty would benefit the country as it would provide employment opportunities for the locals, reduce the number of detention camps, redeploy enforcement officers, lower the risk of the spread of communicable diseases and assist foreign workers from being exploited by local errant employers.
Besides these, Malaysia would also be able to earn the goodwill of workers organizations both at home and in the workers' country of origin, he added.
Point Taken. Touche!
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