Indonesia's policy of imposing a levy of RM1,240 (or Rp2.99 million) on every Indonesian who wants to return to work in Malaysia has been described as "too high".

Migrant Care, a non-governmental organisation was quoted in a Bernama report as saying the levy should not be more than RM415, given that the payment for each passport is only RM50.

The rest of the money is for medical check-up, work visa, work agreement, travelling expenses, induction courses and insurance coverage.

The rule requires each of the candidate wishing to work in Malaysia to pay RM166 for insurance coverage, However in Malaysia, the employers have taken care of the worker's accident insurance.

Malaysian Home Minister Azmi Khalid has said that Malaysia did not charge anything, including visa, to Indonesian workers who wishing to return to Malaysia.

Migrant Care believed many Indonesians chose to work in Malaysia illegally to avoid paying the high levy. Apart from that, it also claimed that applying to become legal workers is complicating.

An activist, Mulyono, told Bernama that the legal entry of each Indonesian to Malaysia should not cost more than RM290 since Malaysia does not impose any additional charges on the candidate.

However an Indonesian manpower ministry official refuted the claim, saying that payments had to be made to agents whose role in taking the workers to their work place could not be underestimated.

Letter to Pak Lah

Meanwhile, in another Bernama report, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has sent a letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi just three days before the government's plan to launch a massive crackdown on illegal immigrants slated to begin from March 1.

Indonesia's Manpower and Transmigration Minister Fahmi Idris delivered the letter to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in Kuala Lumpur today to be handed to Abdullah who was away on a visit to Perak.

However Fahmi said he did not know the content of the letter when asked by reporters after meeting his Malaysian counterpart Azmi today.