September 11, 2007 17:43 PM
KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara, Sept 11 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has asked at least 20,000 Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) from East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province to be employed in plantations and other sectors, a regional government spokesman said.
"We have sent 8,000 TKIs last year and 6,300 this year. This means that we are not yet able to meet the needed TKIs by Malaysia," Head of NTT's Manpower and Transmigration office, I Nasu Conterius, told ANTARA here on Tuesday.
He said the quota had not yet been met but it was quite possible that the remaining quota had been filled in by illegal TKIs who were sent by illegal mediators.
Conterius said the illegal middlemen usually used Nunukan of East Kalimantan as the gate for sending illegal workers to Malaysia.
He said that the number of illegal TKIs who entered Malaysia through the Nunukan gate from NTT was estimated at between 20,000 and 30,000.
Conterius said it was difficult for the regional government to prevent the illegal dispatch of migrant workers to Malaysia because the TKIs would rather cooperate with illegal middlemen than the officials, despite the fact that they had to pay a big amount of money to go to Malaysia.
-- BERNAMA
