Singapore - They share the same Malay cultural roots and the Islamic religion, but the shoddy treatment of Indonesian workers in Malaysia has soured relations between the South-east Asian neighbours.
Political commentators see the clash as one arising from class rather than ethnic differences.
In the latest flare up, thousands of young Indonesians burned Malaysian flags and demonstrated in front of the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta and consulates elsewhere following the bashing up of an Indonesian karate coach by police in Malaysia.
The fact that the police were hunting for illegal immigrants has not helped assuage ruffled feelings in Indonesia.
Donald Luther Kolobita, 47, was part of the Indonesian team sent for the Asian Karate Championships in Kuala Lumpur, but was confronted by four plain clothes policemen late at night outside his hotel. Thinking they were trying to rob him, Kolobita put up a fight before he was overpowered, handcuffed and taken to the police station where he was savagely beaten up.
Kolobita returned to Jakarta in a wheelchair and the Indonesian team withdrew from the championship. The speaker of Indonesia‘s parliament Agung Laksono called the attack "an arrogant act on the part of the Malaysian police against an Indonesian citizen," and President Susilo Yudhoyono demanded that the Malaysian police apologise.
On Friday, Malaysian police chief Musa Hassan sent a written apology to Kolobita, which was hand delivered to his hospital bedside in Jakarta by Malaysia‘s ambassador Zainal Abidin Zain. But anger in Indonesia has not yet subsided with young activists continuing their protests outside the Malaysian embassy.
The latest episode is one more example of inhuman treatment of Indonesians in Malaysia, especially migrant workers. There are almost 600,000 officially documented Indonesian workers in Malaysia and, according to estimates, there may be an equal number of illegal workers as well.
Some 27 percent of the Indonesian legal workers are domestic maids and a spate of maid abuse cases has added to the anger over a heavy-handed crackdown on illegal workers.
"Malays in Malaysia always think of Javanese (Indonesians) as ethnically inferior compared to them,‘‘ said Ade Armando, a communications lecturer at the University of Indonesia, in an IPS interview. "This is justified by the fact that the Indonesians they mostly see are labourers or maids,‘‘ he added.
Yap Swee Seng, executive director of the Malaysian human rights group Suaram, argues that the anger expressed by Indonesians is indicative of the "long accumulated anger against Malaysia for its rampant abuse, exploitation and human rights violations of Indonesian migrant workers". He said there was a lack of commitment on the part of the Malaysian government in stopping abuse. "There have been too many abuse cases with almost total impunity enjoyed by the perpetuators," Yap told IPS.
"The majority of the Indonesian migrant workers have been employed in the ‘3-D‘ jobs, short for dangerous, discriminatory and degrading. Therefore, there are widespread discriminatory and arrogant attitudes against the migrant workers in general," he added.
Just a few days before the attack on Kolobita, the Indonesian government, prompted by the death of a 24-year-old maid at the hands of abusive employers, stepped up pressure on Malaysia to take swift action against the ill-treatment of Indonesian workers.
In the last three months there were two cases of Indonesian maids having to be rescued by fire fighters after they were spotted hanging from window ledges of high-rise condominiums trying to escape. Maids often suffer physical attacks that includes scalding with irons or boiling water. But prosecutions are rare.
Irene Fernandez, director of Tenaganita, a leading migrant workers‘ rights group, told IPS in May that an average of 150-200 migrant workers, majority of them maids, seek refuge at the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur every month.
She has laid blame on both the Malaysian and Indonesian governments for failing to protect the rights of migrant workers. "As long as the Malaysian government does not address this fundamental issue, such incidents will continue to happen," she told the Al-Jazeera TV channel recently.
Yap agrees. "Domestic workers are among the most abused people in Malaysia as they work in isolated and insulated environments," he said. "They should be allowed one rest day in a week and be allowed to meet with their friends, and join or form trade unions, so that they will have a support system.‘‘
Yap argues that there should be "a total reform in the policy and legal system in Malaysia in dealing with migrant workers" and that without such a legal system the Malaysian government "will be equally guilty by its inaction against such human rights violations."
‘‘I do not think we as a nation are so angry with Malaysia," Armando told IPS. He argues that rather than protesting against Malaysia, young people must protest to the Indonesian government for "failing to provide our people with the type of job opportunities that are offered in Malaysia‘‘.
According to Armando the middle-classes of the two countries have much mutual respect and Indonesian cultural products are found everywhere in Malaysia. "I believe, to some extent, the Malaysian younger middle-classes envy the type of freedom enjoyed by their counterparts in Indonesia,‘‘ he noted.
Source: www.ipsnews.net (5 September 2007)