EMPLOYERS hiring migrant workers illegally must be punished, Indonesia’s Ambassador to Malaysia, Hermono said to The Star Online today.

Responding to the recent raid on an illegal settlement in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, he said undocumented migrant workers are in Malaysia because businesses are employing them illegally.

“Even though it is against the law, they are here because they have been hired.

“Where there are illegal workers, there must be illegal employers as well.

“Both of them breached the law, and both must be punished accordingly.

“It the employers’ responsibility to obtain permits for their workers, so it is unfair to only blame one side.

“I have also raised this unjust treatment to the Chief Justice for her consideration,” he said.

The raid in Nilai Springs saw the arrest of 67 Indonesians, who according to the authorities did not have valid travel documents.

The group consisted of 31 adults and 36 children, including infants as young as two months old.

Hermano wanted to know what would happen to the employers involved.

“Some of these people haven’t even received their salary. Why are the employers not questioned? Why is the focus only on the workers?” he asked.

Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has condemned the raid at the migrant settlement, reprimanding the Immigration Department for not complying with the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). – February 11, 2023.