KUALA LUMPUR: The tension between Malaysian and Indonesia has barely subsided.

However, the recent shooting of five Indonesian gang members by police in Penang has stirred up simmering anger against Malaysia.

A senior Indonesian lawmaker, Irgan Chairul Mahfiz, has called for a permanent ban on Indonesian workers to Malaysia as a punishment to the latter.

Irgan, who is the deputy chairman of the Indonesian House of Commission IX, said Malaysia needs to be "punished" for neglecting the plight of Indonesian migrant workers, and added that not much effort has been made to punish those who violated the workers’ rights.

The commission’s task includes overseeing the placement and protection of migrant workers abroad.

Indonesian daily Kompas had on Friday reported Igan’s demand for his own government to reverse its decision to lift the moratorium, which Indonesia had implemented since June 2009.

Irgan said the Indonesian government should start by banning any import of Indonesian workers to Malaysia for the agricultural sector. He claimed that this sector was largely responsible for humanitarian abuses, as well as inconsistent wages for workers.

While admitting that the abuses were experienced mostly by illegal immigrants, he said the attitude of the industrial sector, which still allows for the intake of illegal migrants, should not go unpunished.

He also claimed that those who run the industrial sector often use the illegal status of the workers as weapons to accord them only low wages and poor health care.

"These companies also team up with the authorities to extort and make inhumane arrests against the Indonesians. The migrant workers are being mistreated. They have been tortured and murdered," Irgan said.

He suggested that Indonesia finds another country to allocate their workers with "dignity", such as Hong Kong and Taiwan whom he claimed treated migrants better.

Efforts to contact the Human Resources Ministry for a response was unsuccessful at Press time.

Earlier this month, five Indonesians were killed in a shootout with the Malaysian police in Penang. The slain men – identified as Jhoni, Ostnan, Hamid, Diden and Mahno – were allegedly members of the Baju Hitam (Black Shirt) gang that specialized in burgling luxury homes in Penang.

Checks had showed that the men possessed criminal records and were illegal immigrants.

The shooting had caused a furore in Indonesia, with several political parties crying foul over Malaysian police’s action. Several had even urged Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to report the matter with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

The subsequent fiery statements by politicians had also elicited response from the Indonesian public, who took to social media sites to vent their opinion on the issue. Some had questioned the need for the criminals to be shot and killed, while many had defended Malaysian police’s decision, saying that the behaviour of these criminals have tarnished Indonesia’s image internationally.

Indonesia had only this year ended a two-year moratorium on the export of its workers to Malaysia, which was implemented following reported cases of abuse against Indonesian maids here.

In lifting the moratorium, both countries had signed a MoU which states 11 key points which must be adhered to by the Malaysian government to safeguard the Indonesian workers.

- mD