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TSUNAMI IMPACT: When Compassion Takes A Wrong Turn in Malaysia

Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 2005 (IPS) - Even the Indian Ocean tsunami has been unable to make compassion-fatigued Malaysia baulk at its latest order. It wants to deport all undocumented workers back to their tsunami-hit countries on Jan. 31, regardless of whether these migrants end up in emergency relief camps surviving on rations handed out by charities.

For tea stall helper Abdul Rauf Chinanaina – a 19-year-old Tamil Muslim from the tsunami devastated coastal settlement of Nagapattinam in southern India’s Tamil Nadu state – the clock is mercilessly ticking away day by day.

An undocumented migrant worker, Rauf must return home – to a devastated village – before Jan. 31 when an amnesty for all unregistered workers will end. Otherwise, he becomes a hunted man if he stays.

”The waves killed my father, two sisters and many relatives but I dare not return to help or pray for them because the debt collector and his gang are all alive and would demand repayment of the loan I got from the thugs,” said Rauf while serving customers at a roadside tea stall in the Ampang suburb, north of the capital.

The government is making final preparations – readying the police, immigration and a 500,000-member civil defense force called RELA – for a nationwide crackdown on undocumented workers from Feb. 1.

Some RELA members would be armed when raiding illegal settlements and squatter communities where undocumented workers live. The people are also urged to help by passing on information to the authorities.

”This time we will be relentless,” said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. ”We have extended the amnesty twice and this time there is absolutely no excuse for them to remain.’

If caught Rauf will face five years in jail, whipping and deportation for overstaying his visitor’s visa and working without valid permits. His particulars, including his photograph and thumb prints, would be taken to ensure he never returns. ”I took a 57,000 rupee loan (1,300 U.S. dollars) to pay agents who brought me here and gave me this job,” he told IPS.

That was seven months ago and it will be many more months if not years before Rauf can save enough money from his meager wages of 12 ringgit (three U.S. dollars) a day to repay the loan and the 20 percent interest.

More than 8,800 people are confirmed dead in Tamil Nadu after the Dec. 26 killer tsunami struck, spawned by an undersea quake in Indonesia’s northern Sumatra. Over 220,000 in a dozen Indian Ocean rim countries perished when killer waves lashed the coastlines of South and South-east Asia.

In Tamil Nadu, thousands more are still missing. At least 140,000 Indians, mostly from fishing families, are in relief centres.

”The tsunami has wiped out any little chances of unemployment in Nagapattinam and many of my relatives want to come here,” said Rauf. ”I told them about the crackdown but they still want to come.”

”We Tamil Muslims are proud…we want to earn our livelihood,” he said. ”We don’t want to be in refugee camps, surviving on donated food.”

The majority of Malaysia’s estimated two million undocumented workers in Malaysia are from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India – the three countries worst hit by the Dec 26 tsunami. Others are from Nepal, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.

Malaysia itself was not spared by the killer waves. Scores of people in fishing communities were swept from beaches near the northern island of Penang, and at least 68 people are confirmed dead.

”We have made so many compromises before. Therefore, any ‘illegal’ who is arrested after the amnesty would be subjected to stern action,” said Deputy Prime Minister Najib.

”We are not closing the doors on all foreign workers. They can return as legal workers but with proper documents,” he added.

The amnesty was due to end Oct. 29 last year but was extended first on the government’s own cognisance and later because of an appeal from newly elected Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The start of the crackdown was delayed by another month following Dec. 26 tsunami, after appeals by Malaysian human rights groups.

”Deporting migrant workers to unstable, disaster stricken areas would contribute to the humanitarian crisis rather than alleviate its effects,” said Malaysia’s premier human rights group SUARAM.

”It also places unnecessary pressure on the governments of the tsunami-hit countries, who are struggling with the enormity of such a tragedy,” said the human rights group.

Rights organisations also oppose the ”haste” of the crackdown and the use of RELA – which they say is a poorly trained ”notorious trigger-happy para-military group.”

RELA volunteers would also get cash rewards for each immigrant arrested, a move condemned by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch as bounty hunting.

”It is a dangerous precedent to arm RELA members to go after undocumented workers,” said Irene Fernandez, director of TENAGANITA, a human rights NGO that champions the rights of undocumented workers.

”This move will lead to abuse of power and create a form of vigilantism that brings about racism and violence,” Fernandez told IPS.

”There is absolutely no reason to use firearms on unarmed ordinary migrant workers,” she added. ”Their only fault is that they do not hold proper documents. Undocumented workers are not criminals.”

Meanwhile foreign missions here are busy issuing exit passes to their nationals to leave before Jan 31. Ferry tickets to Indonesia have been snapped up and airlines flying from here to India, Sri Lanka and Nepal are fully booked.

”I am leaving for Sri Lanka next week,” said undocumented restaurant worker Arjuna Gunatilake, 28. ”But I will return when my money runs out.”