Indonesia has claimed that delays by the Malaysian Home Ministry in issuing work permits have frustrated the return of migrant workers.

I Gusti Made Arka, the director-general of labour export at the Ministry of Labour and Transmigration told malaysiakini by telephone that only 6,000 permits have been issued by the Malaysian authorities since the end of the amnesty for illegal workers.

"This is too few ... the number of Indonesian workers who returned home during the amnesty period alone was 152,000," he said.

However, The Jakarta Post reported earlier that 400,000 Indonesians had returned to their country, and that 350,000 are currently unemployed.

According to Gusti Made, Malaysia has allocated only 57,000 permits for all sending countries, and these permits were not only for Indonesia but also for workers from Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Burma and Thailand.

To address the shortage of working permits, he said the Indonesian government would negotiate with its Malaysian counterpart to raise the total number of permits to 200,000 for all countries.

He also said he anticipated about 100,000 Indonesian workers to return to Malaysia eventually.

The amnesty for illegal migrant workers ended on March 1, leading to a massive crackdown by authorities.

Malaysia has relied heavily on migrant workers especially from Indonesia. The construction and plantation sectors have been badly affected due to the dire labour shortage.

Extended stay

Gusti Made conceded that procedures imposed by the Indonesian government had thwarted the return of the workers to Malaysia, thereby leading the latter to consider importing 100,000 Pakistani male workers to fill vacancies.

He explained that the Indonesian government wants its nationals to work in Malaysia legally, but denied the claim that the relatively high processing fee has delayed the process.

"The problem is because of the permits ... I would like to send them legally, not illegally. But we have just a limited number permits from the (Malaysian) Home Ministry," he said.

He claimed that many Indonesians have yet to apply to return to Malaysia because most of them want to stay longer with their families.

"They told me they want to stay with their families (for a while). They have been away from home for very long, so they want to stay longer," he said.

Meanwhile, Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia H Rusdihrajo today declined to comment on whether his apology to Malaysians was sincere. He had made the gesture after Indonesians had burnt Malaysian flags in protest in Jakarta.

"I don't want to talk about this any more. This is over," he told reporters at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

He has been summoned by the Indonesian Parliament to explain his remarks that the protestors were people "who are hungry and have become angry ... angry people become insane". His explanation was accepted by the House.