Workers involved in rioting should face justice: Indonesian minister
"All Indonesian nationals abroad should abide by local laws and regulations. Rioting such as that is unacceptable because the Malaysian police were only doing their job of enforcing the law," Wirayuda told reporters in Jakarta.
"Those who were at fault should be held accountable for their actions before the law."
Some 400 Indonesian textile workers staged a violent rampage Thursday in Negeri Sembilan after police tried to detain 16 of their co-workers for drug abuse.
The police have since detained 28 Indonesian factory workers involved in the riot.
The rioters overturned vehicles and then retreated to their hostel from where they jeered at police and threw chairs, tables, bottles and stones.
Requirements tightened
The government has since said it would tighten requirements for hiring foreign labour and place Indonesian workers last on the list of desirable entrants after the riot.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said the government may give priority to workers from countries other than Indonesia.
"They (Indonesians) are giving us a lot of trouble. They try to smuggle themselves into the country and become violent when they are arrested. We cannot accept this kind of behaviour," the premier said last week.
"Maybe in the future, we may accept workers from other countries... workers who do not give us problems."
PM criticised
The Association of Indonesian Labor Exporters criticised Mahathir for the comments.
"Malaysia should reflect before making such a decision. There are illegal and legal Indonesian workers there. Those illegal workers were sent by Malaysian citizens," association chairman Anton Sihombing told the evening Sinar Harapan daily.
"I regret the statement made by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad," Sihombing said.
The incident came just over a month after more than 2,000 illegal immigrants, including 1,560 Indonesians, rioted at a detention centre in Johor and torched a section of their quarters to escape deportation.
Malaysia is home to some 700,000 foreign workers, mainly from Indonesia, as well as hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. Most of them work in low-paying non-skilled sectors such as construction, plantation and services.
