"We strongly condemn the inhuman action of the Malaysian police."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The three Indonesian migrant workers who died after being shot in their heads and chests by five Malaysian policemen in March 2012 were remembered by workers observing May Day on May 1.
In the May Day rally in Jakarta, workers grouped under the Indonesian Workers Council expressed their condolences over the shooting of the three workers by the Malaysian police.
"We strongly condemn the inhuman action of the Malaysian police. If necessary, we can mobilize a solidarity movement to occupy the Malaysian embassy," said Iqbal, the president of the Indonesian Labour Union Confederation (KSPI), in the massive rally at Hotel Indonesia Circle in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Workers from various labour unions urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take a firm stand on the fatal shootings.
"Indonesia`s migrant workers are its largest foreign exchange contributors. As fellow workers, we must defend them," Iqbal stated.
He urged the government to recall all Indonesian migrant workers from Malaysia until their protection was guaranteed.
In addition to Iqbal, the chairman of the Confederation of All Indonesian Labour Unions (KSPSI) Yorrys Raweyai also called on the government to take a firm stand on the shooting incident.
"KSPSI has urged the government to take a firm stance on abuses often committed by Malaysia against Indonesia, particularly in light of the fatal shooting of three of our migrant workers by Malaysian police," he commented recently.
"The confederation threatens to mobilize thousands of workers to Jakarta if the government does not take strong action," added Raweyai, who is also a member of the House of Representatives (DPR)`s Commission I.
He expressed regret that the Migrant Worker Task Force set up by the government had failed to protect the country`s migrant workers and deal with the shooting incident.
KSPSI deplored the fatal shootings by the Malaysian police, calling it a violation of human rights, and added that there were frequent similar incidences of inhuman treatment meted out to Indonesian migrant workers by the Malaysian police.
"KSPSI is of the opinion that Malaysia is not a good neighbour to Indonesia," Raweyai stated, urging the government to investigate the recent murders of the three migrant workers from West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).
Raweyai hoped that both the Indonesian and Malaysian governments would issue a clarification on the incident by May 3 at the latest; if not, he would stop the operation of all Malaysian companies in Indonesia.
In Mataram, NTB province, from where the victims hailed, around 300 workers demanded that the government provide better protection to the country`s migrant workers (TKI) to prevent the future occurrence of similar fatal shootings.
NTB Governor TGH M Zainul Majdi met the rallying workers in Mataram on Tuesday and told them that the Malaysian Foreign Minister had recently called him to assure him that the Malaysian government would investigate the shooting to death of the three NTB workers.
Zainul added that he had dispatched a protest note to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry because the Indonesian embassy in Malaysia did not treat the slain workers` bodies with sufficient care.
The embassy had neither paid the costs of dispatching the bodies to Indonesia nor reacted adequately to the workers being shot in the head and chest, the governor pointed out.
Regarding the suspicions of the workers` families that several of the workers` vital organs were missing, the governor urged all parties to accept the results of the second autopsy conducted recently by an Indonesian medical team.
The first autopsy had been performed by the Malaysian authorities before the bodies were returned to NTB.
Earlier on Tuesday, Lalu Moh Faozal, the spokesman of the NTB provincial administration, remarked that Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa had called Governor Zainul regarding the autopsy results.
The governor received Marty`s call when he and his staff were on their way to meet the 300 workers who had joined the May Day rally in front of the governor`s office.
"The minister has asked the governor to convince the dead workers` families to accept the results of the autopsy recently conducted on the fatal shooting victims," Lalu added.
Marty called the governor on Tuesday after meeting with members of the victims` families who had come to Jakarta to express their grievances regarding the three workers` deaths and their suspicions that certain organs such as eye balls, brains and hearts were missing from the victims` bodies.
Mad Noor (28), a resident of Pengadangan village, Pringgasela sub-district; Herman (34); and his nephew Abdul Kadir Jaelani (25) - both residents of Pancor Kopong village, Pringgasela sub-district, Lotim district - were shot dead by five Malaysian police officers in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, in March 2012.
The security director of the National Agency for Protection and Placement of Indonesian Workers (BNP2TKI) Police Brigadier General Bambang Purwanto stated in an e-mail regarding his investigation of the case in April 2012 that he had met with the Malaysian police, who had assured him that they would provide an explanation for the incident.
"However, they did not say when it would be done, but said they would do it immediately," he remarked.
Bambang said that the shooting occurred at around 5 am on March 24 in the Dickson Port area, Negeri Sembilan, adding that the police shot the three migrant workers based on the suspicion that they were about to commit a robbery in the Tampin Kanan Tinggi neighbourhood.
When they were shot, he remarked, the three workers were wearing masks and gloves; they also carried machetes.
According to the information received by Bambang, the three workers defied the police, thus compelling the police to open fire and shoot them many times in the face, body and chest, till they died.
The first autopsy was performed on the bodies of Abdul Kadir Jaelani and Herman on March 26.
Abdul Kadir`s body was examined by Dr. Mohd Khairul Izzati Omar and Herman`s, by Dr. Muhammad Huzaifah Rahim. Mad Noor`s body was examined by Dr. Salooraf on March 27.
The bodies of the three immigrants were flown back home to Lombok Timur, NTB, on April 6.
The victims` families, however, declared that since the victims had no criminal records, they doubted that the three workers had wanted to commit a robbery.
The families were also disappointed about the conditions of the three bodies, which appeared as if some of their organs had been removed.
However, Marty stated on April 27 that no organ had been removed.
"According to the results of the second autopsy on the bodies of the three victims, it was proved that the allegations of organ removal were false," he remarked while announcing the autopsy results in Jakarta last Friday.
The minister was accompanied by the head of the national police`s Health and Medical Centre, Brigadier General Mussadeq Ishaq.
Brigadier General Mussadeq Ishaq confirmed that the victims` bodies still contained all their organs.
On April 26, forensic expert Dr Mun`im Idris of the University of Indonesia (UI) gave the assurance at the organs of the two Indonesian migrant workers, Abdul Kadir Jaelani and Herman, who were recently shot dead in Malaysia, remain intact. This was following an autopsy conducted by a forensic team on the bodies at the Pancor Kopong cemetery in NTB province.
The head of BNP2TKI, Moh Jumhur Hidayat, supported Mun`im`s statement.
"True, all the organs of the Indonesian migrant workers remain intact," Jumhur remarked recently.
The forensic team comprised six doctors from the Bhayangkara police hospital in Mataram, the capital of NTB province, he added.
The workers` deaths have also received serious attention from the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), which has promised to set up an investigative team to probe into the case.
"If the House of Representatives (DPR) asks the rights body to investigate the death of the three Indonesian migrant workers who were shot in Malaysia, we will do that," said Komnas HAM chairman Ifdhal Kasimhe recently.
(T.F001/INE/KR-BSR)
Reporter: by Fardah
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
