Amy Chew – Under the shadow of Kuala Lumpur's gleaming skyscrapers, about one million Indonesian migrant workers are suffering from food shortages during Malaysia's partial lockdown, says the Malaysian chapter of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation.
One of them is Agung, 30, who has been surviving on eggs and instant noodles in his ramshackle makeshift accommodation on a construction site that has gone idle.
While he used to earn 2,000 ringgit (US$460) a month from back-breaking manual labour to build offices and homes, and repair factories in Malaysia's capital, Agung has not been paid since most workplaces closed on March 18.
His dwindling food supplies are from an NGO and can last for another four to five days, he estimates.
"I don't know what I will do after that," said Agung, who is worried about his wife, one-year-old child and elderly parents living in a village outside Medan, North Sumatra. He is their sole breadwinner.
"I have not been able to send them any money for two months. For now they have food, but I don't know how long that is going to last," he said.
Agung is among the more than 2.5 million low-wage Indonesian workers in Malaysia, most of whom are Muslim. They are grappling with a double whammy of financial distress ahead of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan that begins on Friday, and being told they should not return home in late May to observe Eid ul-Fitr or Hari Raya Puasa – the occasion marking the end of the fasting month.
On Tuesday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo banned the annual ritual known as mudik – during which tens of millions of citizens travel to their villages from urban centres and overseas workplaces – as he sought to curb the spread of coronavirus in the world's largest Muslim-majority country of 270 million.
Earlier, government officials had advised overseas workers to stay put where they were and not return home. As of Thursday, Indonesia had 7,775 cases of coronavirus infections and 647 casualties, the highest death toll in Asia outside China.
'No returning during partial lockdown'
Mahfud Budiono, a migrant worker who heads the Malaysian chapter of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said 700,000 documented and 1.5 million undocumented Indonesian workers in the construction industry, restaurants, cleaning services and others had been put on unpaid leave during the lockdown period, which is expected to end next Tuesday but could be extended.
"They have used up all their savings to pay their rent and essential goods," Mahfud said.
Some 400,000 workers have been threatened with eviction by their landlords as they have no money for rent, which averages around 1,200 ringgit a month, he added.
NU and 20 NGOs have been delivering food aid to Indonesian workers around Kuala Lumpur and the neighbouring Selangor state, but Mahfud said the groups were "overwhelmed" by the effort.
Malaysian Federal Territory Minister Annuar Musa donated 1,000 bags of 5kg rice on April 3, while the Indonesian Foreign Ministry has distributed 100,000 essential goods packages to its workers.
Glorene Das, executive director of Tenaganita, an NGO protecting the rights of women, migrants and refugees in Malaysia said: "Migrant workers are not afraid of Covid-19. They are more afraid that they will starve, for they can no longer work and earn a wage."
With no jobs or money, some 62,000 Indonesians have returned home since the start of Malaysia's partial lockdown, said Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told This Week in Asia that all foreigners were allowed to return to their home countries
"But once at home, they cannot come back as long as the movement control order (MCO) is in place," he said, referring to the partial lockdown. "This applies to not only Indonesian but all foreign nationals."
Mahfud of NU said despite Jokowi's ban on mudik, many Indonesian migrant workers who had the means would want to travel home to be with their families for Eid, and then return to Malaysia once their money ran out or if they could not find work in Indonesia.
Muhammad Sinatra, an analyst at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), said the Malaysian economy is highly dependent on foreign workers and Indonesian workers would help in the recovery of Malaysia's economy – which the central bank expects will grow between -2 per cent and 0.5 per cent this year.
"Perceiving Indonesian workers as just another burden is an attitude that will not help the country," Sinatra said.
Migrant workers who remained in Malaysia without any jobs or help would experience deteriorating living conditions and could be better off if they were back home, he said. But returning to Indonesia would "expose them to higher possibility of infection as the situation in Indonesia remains uncontrolled".
Last week, Malaysia's Health Ministry said 43 students who arrived from East Java in Indonesia tested positive for the coronavirus.
"Going home is ultimately the decision of each Indonesian worker here. However, they must also understand that their departure carries a risk for themselves and for Malaysia," Sinatra said.
"Their return might not be immediate, as the Malaysian government must prevent the possibility of a third wave fuelled by returning foreign workers," he said.
Sinatra called on the Malaysian government to introduce rules to discourage wrongful termination or to encourage employers to retain migrant workers' jobs after the partial lockdown period, and to ensure those whose work permits expired were not prosecuted for remaining in the country.
With Malaysia's number of infections decreasing, he said authorities should direct health care resources to migrant workers, including screening them for the virus.
"Ultimately, the situation in Indonesia will affect Malaysia's socio-economic sectors. Drawing on its recent successes, Malaysia must actively practise health diplomacy with Indonesia and offer best practices from its six-week experience with the MCO," Sinatra said.
For construction worker Agung, who returns to Indonesia for Eid every two years and had intended to do so this year, this year's Ramadan will be a solemn affair.
"I am very sad I cannot go home for Eid, which is most important to me," he said.