The Paper's reporter Xu Zhenhua
"If I had to make a decision again, I would never have chosen to smuggle myself into this path." When I was escorted to the immigration department, I thought I had a dead heart. Xiao Jie, who is still completing the epidemic prevention procedures after returning to China, told the surging news (www.thepaper.cn).
In March last year, Xiao Jie and his fellow villagers were introduced from his hometown of Henan Province to work in Sulawesi, Indonesia. After working in Indonesia, they found that the actual treatment was far less than promised, the phenomenon of non-compliance and even illegality on the construction site was endless, and their passports were seized by the company. In June, they decided to resign and return home, but until mid-September, they were unable to get the passports they needed to return home. Under normal circumstances, Xiao Jie and five other people decided to take a desperate risk and detoured back to Malaysia by smuggling.
On September 18, Xiao Jie and five other people were arrested by Malaysian soldiers on the coast of Johor, Malaysia. The news quickly reached their families, and wives who had been missing their husbands overseas for days realized what they had been through. According to Xiao Jie, they were close to the coast of Johor, Malaysia, but were found by border guards. Although Xiao Jie and five others and 10 Indonesians in the same boat jumped into the sea, they were captured by the horse troops.
"When we were found, the boat seeped into the sea, almost to the position of my stomach, and in a hurry we chose to dive. My companions and I struggled to swim toward the shore, and when we were about to reach the shore, we heard two gunshots. We hid in the woods with 5 Indonesian women and 5 Indonesian men, but were quickly arrested. Xiao Jie recalled these experiences, but his heart still palpitated.
In fact, the smuggling route taken by these five Henan workers has always been known for its danger. Three months after they were caught smuggling, more than 20 Indonesian workers were shipwrecked off the coast of Johor on December 15 last year. Malaysia has a significant number of unregistered workers from Indonesia. The more than 20 victims, like hundreds of thousands of fellow Indonesians, tried to smuggle into Malaysia for higher-paying jobs.
The path of Xiao Jie and five others leaving Indonesia overlaps with the path of Indonesian workers entering Malaysia illegally. According to Xiao Jie's recollection, the people who were in the same boat with them at that time were all Indonesians, in addition to the 10 Indonesians arrested, there were dozens of Indonesians in the same boat who were not arrested by the police, and their whereabouts are unknown.
Hope burns to extinguish
The families of the five Henan workers stressed that they chose to smuggle the ferry because they had no hope of returning to China and almost had a nervous breakdown. According to the Phoenix Weekly new media account "Observatory" reported on December 18 last year, in the Circle of Chinese workers in the nickel mining park of Sulawesi, Indonesia, rumors of some people smuggling to Malaysia first and finally returning to China have long spread. Many of these workers believe that they have been mistreated by outsourcing companies and even park companies, but they are stranded in Indonesia due to the seizure of passports and expensive air tickets, and they have tried their best to return to China as soon as possible.
In the second half of last year, Xiao Jie and others had "broken up" with outsourcing companies because of their rights protection actions such as asking for passports, requiring them to sign contracts in accordance with recruitment commitments, and asking for arrears of wages. They have no work to do in the industrial park, and they have never been able to get their passports back through communication and consultation, asking for help from the embassy, and posting a message on the WeChat public account to ask the society. In September of the same year, in order to return to China, they contacted the snakehead nicknamed "Peony". "Peony" opened a restaurant near the construction site, and she claimed that she did not specialize in smuggling but just wanted to help people leave.
A transcript of the conversation between the labor involved and one of the smugglers. The monetary unit in the dialogue is the Indonesian rupiah. Images of this article courtesy of the interviewees
Xiao Jie recalled that the smuggling journey began in mid-September last year and cost about 12,000 yuan per person. Under the arrangement of the smugglers, they took a civil aviation plane from their location to Jakarta, and then from Jakarta to the Indonesian island of Batam, which is close to Singapore and Malaysia. "Along the way, we are all very smooth, the security checks and other passages are useless, and I can feel that the snakehead really has the ability to dredge the relationship." We got to Batam smoothly. Xiao Jie said.
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The workers involved travelled from Batam Transit Station to Yuban Island, from which they eventually boarded a boat to Johor. Source: Provided by Respondents (00:07)
Batam is an important node in the smuggling network between Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula. Before getting ready to board the ship, Xiao Jie and his companions hesitated, not knowing where the road ahead would lead. Moreover, the small boat that can only accommodate a dozen people has to carry dozens of stowaways, which makes them more suspicious of the safety of the route. "The matter is over, and it is not necessary to go up." We hesitated and didn't get on the boat until the end, but we were squeezed to the outermost, seasickness, and spotlight. Xiao Jie told the surging news.
According to the promise, the docking snakehead on the Malaysian side can help Xiao Jie and others apply for new passports by "taking relations" and fly to China by plane in a "legal capacity". However, with Xiao Jie and five others detained by the Ma troops, it is impossible to verify whether the gray means "bragged" by the Malaysian snakehead can be realized.
After being detained by Ma Fang, Xiao Jie and others went to the immigration detention camp of Pekanana, Johor. It was not until December 24 that Xiao Jie successfully boarded a flight back to China and completed his repatriation procedures. In the early days of Xiao Jie's detention, the smuggler was still boasting to his family that he was "well-connected", that he could find a lawyer for the detainee, buy a ticket to return to China, and that the speed would be "very fast", but the cost of each step was not cheap. Xiao Jie recalled that there were also other Chinese in the detention camp who tried to return to China through the smuggler's head channel, and every step they took to contact the smuggler's head for help would be charged, almost a "bottomless pit". The encounters of Xiao Jie and others have attracted the attention of Chinese laborers in Indonesia, Chinese public welfare people in Indonesia, and even Malaysian people. The family eventually chose to cooperate with Malaysian human rights lawyer Liu Yilong, who was willing to provide near-free legal aid, and Xiao Jie and others cut off contact with the smugglers.
A Chinese laborer who is still stranded in Indonesia revealed to the "Observatory" of Phoenix Weekly that there were two people who were lucky enough to return to China last spring, and there have been no successful cases since then. With the help of a lawyer, Xiao Jie also spent 3 months to complete the repatriation procedure and return to China. Four of Jay's companions are still waiting to be released from the detention camp, and the family remains concerned about whether the four will be able to board the plane back home in January and February as planned.
Tragedy is not alone
"I've seen too many ships capsize at sea." Abdul Aziz Ismail told observers on France's 24 news network that according to his analysis, many Indonesian laborers need to return home during important festivals such as Eid al-Fitr and family weddings. However, many people are unable to have legal status because they are not registered, so they return to Indonesia by sea by smuggling. In addition, many Indonesian workers may face lawsuits in Malaysia for not having legal status; even registered "legal workers" whose status may be invalidated by the employer's failure to renew their visas in time; and all Indonesian workers may face confiscation of passports and other documents, which is a common means of forcing Indonesian workers to work. All of these factors have prompted some Indonesian workers to take the risk of smuggling out of Malaysia.
Abdul-Aziz is a member of the Anti-Trafficking Council (MAPMAS) in Selangor, Malaysia, where he is responsible for helping unregistered Indonesian workers in Malaysia return safely to Indonesia. Selangor is located in the middle of the west coast of the Malay Peninsula and is radiated by the Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area. Stowaways from Bangladesh, Indonesia and elsewhere often land in Selangor after crossing the Strait of Malacca.
"What's even sadder is that the smuggling syndicate doesn't care at all (the safety of the stowaways)." In fact, they are always looking for room and opportunity to make a profit without considering the risk to their lives. Abdul-Aziz said.
According to MasinHo, in the tragedy of the shipwreck that occurred on December 15 last year, about 50 illegal immigrants from Indonesia were carried on board the shipwrecked ship from the Indonesian island of Lombok. Rescuers rescued only 13 of them. On the 19th of that month, Malaysian authorities stopped searching for survivors. It was reported that the shipwreck was probably a violent storm caused by the monsoon, and the vessel was only about 20 meters from the shore before the capsizing.
As Abdulaziz recounts, the accident is not an isolated case at sea in Southeast Asia. On July 23, 2016, a vessel full of illegal immigrants overturned off the coast of Johor late at night, killing at least 8 people, missing 20 and rescuing 34. Singapore's Asia News (CNA) reported on December 17 last year that the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said that almost every night there are boats trying to illegally enter Malaysian waters.
"The shipwreck [on December 15 last year] showed the dangers of this irregular migration route. Many Indonesians have entered Malaysia in this way, working in agriculture, construction, manufacturing and other industries. Malaysia's GDP per capita is more than three times that of Indonesia. France's 24 news network reported that it read.
"We learned before we boarded the ship that the boat was mainly for Indonesians smuggled into Malaysia to work. The largest number of Indonesians in the detention camps is also found. Xiao Jie recalled.
Worries after disembarkation
"Malaysia, especially the Malay Peninsula (commonly known as 'West Malaysia') has a long coastline, dense mangroves along the seashore, and a concentrated population in the cities, so the coast is sparsely populated ... This all constitutes a condition for easy smuggling. Xiao Lei (pseudonym) told the surging news analysis. He is a Malaysian citizen and is writing a master's thesis related to immigration studies.
He told The Paper that Malaysia entered the fast lane of Rapid Economic Development in Asia from the 1970s to the 1990s. Under the influence of the government's policy of supporting the Malay middle class, urban development led to the emigration of the rural population, Malaysia began to introduce foreign workers to export and planting industries that lacked a large number of laborers. Today, there are more and more industries in Malaysia that can recruit foreign workers, and more and more countries that can import foreign workers into Malaysia, which makes foreign workers the main labor force in Malaysia's intensive labor industry, and the poor immigration worker management system has indirectly spawned the smuggling and even human trafficking industry.
The problem of human trafficking in Malaysia is so serious that it has even attracted the attention of foreign governments. According to Reuters on July 2, 2021, at that time, US Secretary of State Blinken accused Malaysia of having a significant phenomenon of "forced labor" in human trafficking. Kari Johnstone, executive director of the U.S. State Department's Office on Human Trafficking, said most of the victims of human trafficking in Malaysia are foreign workers.
According to Reuters, there are 2 million registered foreign workers in Malaysia alone, and the number of unregistered foreign workers is even higher, most of them from Indonesia and Bangladesh. Alex Ong, Malaysian coordinator of migrant CARE, a civic organization in Jakarta, Indonesia, noted that it was difficult to determine how many Indonesians were trying to enter Malaysia by sea, according to France's 24 TV. Migrant Care said that between 100,000 and 200,000 Indonesians enter Malaysia without legal documents every year, and the boats that are intercepted by Malaysian border guards or boarded the news because of shipwrecks are just the tip of the iceberg.
Immigration Care analysis said: "Once Indonesian workers arrive in Malaysia, many people are unable to obtain legal status. Even Indonesians who have been granted legal labor status can lose their legal status due to a variety of factors. In total, there are more than 1.5 million unregistered Indonesian workers in Malaysia. If these people are injured, or if their employers decide to fire and take a pay cut, they won't get Social Security. Alex Ong believes this means that many Indonesian workers in Malaysia are at risk of falling into "forced labor".
In fact, Xiao Jie almost faces the same problems as undocumented workers in Indonesia. He recalled that Malaysian docked smugglers claimed they had multiple factories in Malaysia that allowed them to work in those factories to earn home pay and evade arrest. If Xiao Jie and others have not been arrested by Malaysian officials, they are likely to work in these "black factories" and will not receive any social security.
Little Ray agrees with the possibility of this situation. "Although there are very few illegal workers from China in Malaysia. But it is possible to become a black worker after smuggling. Little Ray said.
Xiao Lei also believes that it is the case of Xiao Jie that highlights the complexity of Malaysia's border control problems, "although most Malaysians are indifferent to illegal smuggling and other issues, there are still people who think that this is a serious social problem and ask the government to take more measures to deal with it." As a result, local governments, which generally tend to have a conservative political stance, like to publicize the effectiveness of the 'crackdown on illegal foreign workers', but the specific identities of illegal immigrants, such as refugees, foreign workers, and offenders, are often confused. "In Malaysia, smuggling, illegal foreign labour, refugees and human trafficking are often tied together. Although these issues are intertwined, they are different. ”
Xiao Lei pointed out that in Malaysian civil and political circles, there is often a discussion that equates all illegal immigrants with "criminals", which is not conducive to solving the problem and is unfair to many victims of human trafficking. "After the outbreak, Malaysia twice denied entry to a Refugee Ship for Myanmar Rohingya, denouncing them as smugglers arranged by smugglers." Little Ray said. According to Jay, he also met many Rohingya at the Malaysian Immigration Department who did not want to be repatriated to Myanmar, where ethnic strife persisted, or to gain freedom in Malaysia.
Malaysian journalist Xiaoyu (pseudonym) also told The Paper: "Most of the stowaways are generally from Southeast Asian and South Asian countries, entering Malaysia in search of work and fleeing war. Due to language differences, news reports generally only quote press releases or information from official agencies, which makes the society's understanding of smugglers generally limited to 'people from backward, poor countries smuggling into Malaysia', equating them with 'illegal entry' or even 'criminal' people, and even accusing these immigrants of robbing Malaysia of national resources and job opportunities. ”
"The Henan workers' incident challenges precisely these simplistic narratives. There are frequent smuggling incidents in Malaysia, and we can only understand the reason when we see the help letters of the families of Henan workers on social media, and we are shocked and heartbroken. Xiaoyu said, "Relying on the human snake group to smuggle, even if you give money, you can't buy the guarantee, and you will lose your life at any time." ”
The Indonesian construction site that put Xiao Jie and others in a dilemma
Chaos and darkness under a tough attitude
Xiaoyu said the Malaysian Home Office was ostensibly very tough on undocumented migrants and stowaways, "their attitude is almost 'kill the wrong one and don't let go'." Hamzah Zainudin, Malaysia's key politician and current interior minister, has even declared that all foreign workers, including licensed migrant workers, should be arrested during the COVID-19 lockdown. The ban will invite media coverage to expose these migrant workers to the spotlight as a way to 'demonstrate the government's determination to crack down on illegal foreign workers'. ”
In stark contrast, malaysia actually manages the inbound population such as foreign workers in a very chaotic manner. Xiao Lei analyzed that the powers and responsibilities between the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Human Resources, which are mainly responsible for managing foreign workers, are not clear, and there is a phenomenon of power struggle and prevarication between the two departments. "The chaos of management has even led to a situation in Malaysia where there are more 'illegal foreign workers' than 'legal foreign workers'. Statistics on the number of foreign workers are only possible through questioning by members of Congress to obtain some data that do not represent the whole picture. The little fish pointed out.
"If a foreign worker successfully arrives in Malaysia, whether his or her identity is registered or not, he may face indiscriminate arrests, verbal intimidation, and the public may even wonder whether the police action of the foreign worker is just asking for 'coffee money' (Malaysian society describes the claim for bribes)." Xiao Lei said, "At present, foreign workers are actually the most vulnerable people, but the Malaysian government only legalizes all the tough actions of foreign workers in the name of epidemic prevention, and has not implemented the vaccination plan for foreign workers, and even betrayed its commitment not to take action against foreign workers during the epidemic." ”
The pressure to prevent the epidemic also fell on the detention camps of the Immigration Department. According to Malaysian media reports such as Malaysia Today, during the epidemic period, the space in the detention camps of many immigration bureaus was tight, and the outside world was very worried that the immigration bureau would break out of the epidemic. It is precisely due to the impact of epidemic prevention and control factors that Xiao Jie's lawyer Liu Yilong can hardly have direct contact with the Chinese workers he represents, and even indirect phone applications and information transmission are difficult to achieve smoothly, which adds many difficulties to his legal aid.
Xiao Jie recalled his life in the detention camp and did not want to say more. He mentioned that everyday life is boring and boring, and there are many "dark" things happening. "There are also frequent incidents in Malaysia of detainees being bullied by detainees by detainees by detainees, and the rights and interests of detainees and basic living rations may become services that require money to buy." Xiaoyu told the surging news that "the trading method in the detention camp has become self-contained, very mature and systematic operation, but it is difficult to directly expose." Because the salaries of grass-roots officials are meager, they have the motivation to ask for bribes, and the process of asking for bribes is direct and simple, and it is difficult to expose them to the outside world, so officials and officials protect each other and form a mature trading system. ”
"Every day in the detention camp is like a year. I really don't want anyone to choose to smuggle this path again. I'm lucky, but not everyone can be so lucky. There may be shipwrecks at sea, robbers or even shootings on shore, and it is not known how many dark things will be going to Malaysia. Because my wife does not give up on me and all walks of life pay attention to us, we have hope. Xiao Jie told the surging news.
(Xiao Lei is pursuing a degree related to immigration studies, Xiaoyu is still working in the Malaysian media, and Xiao Jie and his family are worried about harassment and retaliation by snakeheads.) Taking into account the above factors, they used pseudonyms. ）
Editor-in-charge: Hu Zhenqing
Proofreader: Shi Gong