The decision of the government to introduce its improved immigration law beginning Aug 1 has seen the desired effect of reducing the number of migrant workers. However, the manner in which the whole method was handled also brought with it some fiery backlash from our two immediate neighbours.

The government's improved immigration law means that all migrant workers caught contravening any immigration laws of this country would face a jail sentence, plus whipping. Earlier, most of them were freed after a fine.

As the strict new law was to take place beginning Aug 1, many migrant workers were given an amnesty period beginning May, to leave the country voluntarily. At the end of the deadline, authorities started hauling up whatever remaining migrant workers and placed them in deportation camps before sending them back.

In some cases, as if to underscore its determination, the government decided to set precedents: A few migrants were charged in the court of law and were given whipping, along with jail sentences.

The people of the Philippines and Indonesia were upset with two different aspects of the deportation scheme. The Filipinos were distressed that their fellow citizens were being treated inhumanely in deportation camps before being shipped back. As for the Indonesians, it was the whipping that most irked them, especially their People's Consultative Council Speaker Amien Rais.

Amien described the new immigration law that professes whipping as archaic and this was soon followed by protests outside the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta where the Malaysian flag was burned. The Indonesian media too got into the action, mostly in support of the sorry plight of their people.

Temporary halt

In the Philippines, the story was different. Malaysian officials, specifically in Sabah were accused of locking up even children in congested holding cells, causing them to die of diseases resulting from congestion and hunger. Mistreatment of deportees in such camps is another serious allegation.

These stories brought about at least two protests in Manila, a diplomatic protest note to our government and renewed calls from the country's lawmakers over the ownership of Sabah, which the Philippines calls North Borneo.

The country's Commission on Human Rights (CHR) also joined in the fray, claiming that Malaysia could have violated at least three international conventions in the mass deportation.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was forced to temporarily halt the deportation of the Philippine' workers until a mission from Manila comes to inspect the deportation centres.

Well this might in the interim solve the Philippine problem. What about the Indonesian claim that at least 30 of their people had died upon arriving from Malaysia? Worse still, on Saturday, Indonesian People's Welfare Minister Jusuf Kalla said that about 60,000 expelled Indonesian workers had returned to Malaysia, most of them illegally.

The minister also revealed that his government was discussing a new memorandum of understanding with the Malaysian government to allow legal workers to return here.

That's the story so far. What will happen next is not difficult to foresee.

Old wine, new bottle

Despite all the protests and demonstrations, migrant workers from the Philippines and Indonesia will return to Malaysia. In fact, the Indonesians are coming back from the very spot they were dropped off.

This new wave of deportation via the amended law is nothing new. It's just another ad hoc policy by the government, most probably prompted by the riots by the Indonesian workers late last year in Negeri Sembilan and Johor, as well as the recent high number of robberies and murders in the country.

Just days after the deportations took place, manufacturing and construction industry bigwigs were sounding out to the government that their respective industries have come to a standstill. They lobbied hard enough that the government immediately agreed to let them bring back the Indonesian workers, though with some new stringent requirements.

This is reminiscent of what happened before in the mid-1980s and early-1990s. At the end of the day, these workers will still manage to return.

This is a result of inconsistent policy. The government is making mistakes by singling out certain countries to supply workers for us. What it should look at perhaps is to have a regional workers policy where workers from one Asean member country can move to another member country to work.

EU model

It will be something like what the 15-member European Union is doing. The EU was formed with the intention to create "closer union among the European people" and the free movement of persons in the union is one of the four fundamental freedoms of the community law.

The idea was to have a "flexible, well-trained and mobile labour force" that would work together with the broader notion of European solidarity, with the underlying aspiration of "integration of the people's of Europe". (see pg 665, EU Law, Craig and De Burca, 2nd edition Oxford).

The workers from EU member states are assured that they are free to move in the entire territory to work, without facing any form of discrimination, barred only on grounds of public policy, public security or public health.

Admittedly this is not a foolproof system. There are court cases pending from member states at the European Court of Justice on matters involving discrimination against their citizens.

Nevertheless, this method could be a start for the 10-member Asean pact. We simply cannot follow the EU model now as economic imbalance among the Asean states will not allow for a balanced, reciprocal transfer of workers. However, it's a model that bears looking into in the future.

Workers secretariat

As for now, what Asean member states can do is to form a workers secretariat where a register of supply and demand will be placed. Member states that want workers, like Malaysia, can submit a list of its requirements and the secretariat can allocate the number of workers needed from its register. Even the workers supplied can come from various member states.

The benefit of this proposal is that all workers who come into a country will be doing so legally and it will also provide the launching pad for a truly integrated and highly competitive Asean.

The Malaysian government should take the lead, as it is the biggest country with foreign workforce in this region. Furthermore, this proposal runs parallel to the government's earlier proposals of a common currency and passport.

Launching such a system will not be easy but with much thought and groundwork put to it, the system, once implemented, will be useful to all Asean member states.

K KABILAN is a news editor of malaysiakini.