Jakarta - The Indonesian and Malaysian governments need to create bilateral regulations in order to avoid rampant cases of violence against Indonesian migrant workers and to stop any further disputes over cultural and art products, politicians said.
"It is about time both countries established concrete regulations on migrant workers, borders and copy rights to accommodate the interests of both sides," Golkar Party`s Muhammad Muas told Antara.
A delegation of Indonesia`s leading Golkar Party executives met with leaders of Malaysia`s United Malays National Organization (UMNO) for discussions in Kuala Lumpur on the weekend.
Golkar`s delegation was made up of chairman Agung Laksono, secretary general Soemarsono, deputy chairman Muladi and executives Ali Wongso Sinaga, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, Nurul Arifin, Yuddy Chrisnandy, Ace Hasan Syadzily, Gatot Sudaryanto and Darul Siska.
The Golkar team met with UMNO`s chairman and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, as well as vice chairman Dato Muhammad Nadjib, also the country`s Deputy Prime Minister.
Ali Wongso Sinaga said both sides must develop a strong commitment to settle migrant worker problems.
"The practice of brokerage should be eliminated and violence against workers must be ended," he said.
Golkar had suggested workers` passports should be kept by the Indonesian embassy instead of the employers, he said.
Nurul Arifin said legal prosecution was "sluggish" against Malaysian employers.
"It took years to conclude one case," she said.
She also reminded the Malaysian government of the rights of the children of migrant workers to an education.
She said there were around 30,000 children currently facing discrimination because they were not allowed an education in Malaysia.
Also tabled were the cultural problems related to reports about Indonesian songs and dances claimed by Malaysia.
"We need to question and respond to those sensitive issues so that they will not disturb the relationship between each country," Agung Laksono said.
He said they had questioned the Malaysian side about claims around the song Rasa Sayange, among several others, as well as Indonesian traditional dances.
Agung said Indonesia, with its ongoing development of domestic culture and arts, just wanted the Malaysian people to remember the origins of some of their cultural and art products.
Commenting on the Rasa Sayange song, Malaysian Minister of Information and Tourism Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the song`s origin was Indonesian, although the author was anonymous.
Both Golkar and UMNO have agreed to improve communication and dialog in order to bring the two countries together.
Prime Minister Badawi agreed Indonesia and Malaysia should keep and improve a positive relationship for the countries` future.
Source : www.thejakartapost.com (27 Desember 2007)
