Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's failure this week to win an extended amnesty period or leniency for its citizens who work illegally in Malaysia has prompted the country's vice-president to describe his own government as incompetent, and sparked an open feud between two senior Cabinet ministers.
Vice-President Hamzah Haz told a crowd after Friday's prayers: "The Malaysian government had given us six months, but our own government addressed the issue incompetently ... This is our fault." Mr Hamzah, head of the Islamic United Development Party (PPP) and potentially one of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's chief rivals for the presidency in 2004, added that Jakarta knew for some time that half a million Indonesians worked illegally abroad, but did little about it.
"This disaster is an accumulation of previous mistakes. We should not have waited to deal with this issue," he said following Thursday's talks between Ms Megawati and Malaysian Premier Mahathir Mohamad in Bali.
In the wake of Malaysia's refusal to budge on its tough new migrant-labour policy, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea blamed Foreign Affairs colleague Hassan Wirayuda for failing to use diplomatic channels to convince Malaysia to stop deporting the workers.
Mr Jacob, a former union leader, had come under fire for not helping the nearly 250,000 workers who flocked home in recent weeks. Malaysia's amnesty for illegal workers to leave the country ended on July 31 and tough new laws and punishments including caning, hefty fines and jail terms came into effect on August 1.
Said Mr Jacob yesterday: "This has happened because the Foreign Affairs Minister and our Ambassador to Malaysia did not do their jobs properly. If their diplomatic skills were working, I doubt that the situation would be as bad as now.
"If you want to know how this deportation has hurt our workers, please ask Hassan Wirayuda, not me." Mr Jacob said that in previous Cabinet meetings, he had pressed the Foreign Ministry to begin a dialogue with Malaysia on the issue, but to no avail.
But Mr Hassan has explained that Indonesia wants a comprehensive agreement on workers with Malaysia, instead of just a pact on deportation. Such a deal could not be prepared before the Bali meeting.
"We have worked to the best of our abilities and performed our duties as far as possible to protect our citizens during their return," his office said in a statement.
This issue, said analysts, could be used by Ms Megawati's critics to mobilise public opinion against her and her chances for re-election.
Mr Umar Juoro, head of the Centre for Information and Development Studies, said: "Her opponents could certainly paint this as yet another example of how the Megawati administration is incapable of handling problems, particularly those that concern her main constituency – the poor." That parts of government are blaming each other also shows how political stability here remains fragile.
Analysts had said that although many Indonesians rushed home, there could be nearly 200,000 others still living and working in Malaysia without proper papers.
Aid workers say that despite the bickering, the government must keep its focus on the real problem: helping illegal workers still in Malaysia and returnees stranded in border areas with no jobs and nowhere to go.