The government sets out to teach illegal immigrants a lesson by sending hundreds of thousands fleeing home recently under threat of jail and caning, but learnt one itself the economy needs migrant workers badly.

Local newspapers today focussed on an embarrassing about-turn in which the government reversed a ban on the employment of Indonesians in the construction sector and agreed to a new recruitment drive.

The move came after property developers warned construction sites were grinding to a halt and project delays would cost millions of ringgit and possibly push house prices up by as much as 10 percent.

Illegal Indonesian immigrants made up 70 percent of the building industry's 500,000 foreign workers, according to the Master Builders Association of Malaysia (MBAM).

Labour shortage

Many of them were among the more than 300,000 people who left for home during a four-month amnesty ahead of the introduction of tough new penalties for illegal immigrants which came into effect on Aug 1.

The crackdown on illegals exacerbated labour problems caused by a government ban on even the legal recruitment of Indonesians for the construction industry, which was imposed in February after two riots by migrant workers.

The government ordered then that Indonesians should only be employed as domestic maids and builders in this relatively-developed southeast Asian economy should recruit workers from countries such as Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines.

But contractors have made it clear that they prefer the Indonesians, saying they are skilled, share a similar language and culture to Malaysians and are the only workers prepared to put up with the hot and tough conditions on construction sites.

Move welcomed

MBAM vice-president Patrick Wong hailed Wednesday's decision to lift the ban, telling the New Straits Times : "The government now understands our plight."

Wong said, however, that the industry would still be hit by a slowdown over the next few months.

"Workers will trickle in and the industry will only get back to its productive pace in about six months."

Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn acknowledged the problem, saying the government would "facilitate the intake of new foreign workers, shorten the process of approval."

But, he said, in the long-term Malaysia wanted to be able to rely on its own labour force.

"Of course Malaysia aspires to be completely independent of foreign workers but the hard reality is that in the process of transition from a labour-intensive economy to a tech-intensive economy, we need a period of adjustment," he told AFP .

"We find now that many of our traditional sectors such as plantation, such as small and medium industries which are still using low-technology processes have to rely on foreign labour" because Malaysians prefer to seek better-paid jobs.

New recruits

While the government may claim that at least its expulsion of illegal immigrants will now see new recruits employed on a legal basis, industry sources say privately that bureaucratic paperwork and two-year contracts make legitimate employees a burden.

Illegal immigrants on the other hand are prepared to work on a daily basis as and when needed.

This suggests many Indonesians, faced with high levels of unemployment at home, will soon be heading back to Malaysia illegally, although both they and their employers now face a mandatory six months in jail and possibly up to six strokes of the cane. AFP