Trade Contacts in the Border Areas between Malaysia and the Philippines

Statistik Kelulusan Pas Lawatan Kerja Sementara,

2004: 71

Citizenship Indonesia Indonesia Filipino Filipino Total Total Sektor Kategori PBaru PLama PBaru PLama P Baru P Lama Pembantu rumah 261 512 11 36 271 548 Perkilangan 342 977 30 36 373 1012 Perladangan 2725 4377 155 202 2880 4579 Pembinaan 92 74 30 40 122 114 Perkhidmata n 96 234 79 89 178 323 Lain-lain Total 3526 6874 396 402 3825 6576 According to the Indonesian Report in June 2007, there were about 207,186 foreigners from Indonesia work in Sabah. Almost ¾ of them work in the oil palm plantations. It is caused that the local people called “penduduk tempatan” are not interested in working in the palm oil plantations. They perceive that working in the plantation is hard work and limited salary. The location of the palm oil plantations, are far in the interior as well as the palm oil estates in Lahat Datu, Kinabatangan and Tongud. The job opportunities in the palm oil plantations in Sabah give not economic benefit to the local people in Sabah. More than 90 of the agricultural areas in Sabah in 2005 were utilized for the oil palm plantations. It was only 6.5 of the areas that had been planted for palm oil in 2005 were managed by the small scale businessmen or local businessmen, and the rest it was about 93.5 were dominated by the big capitals. The second plants that have been provided including paddy, coconut, cocao and coffee. Ubung Imang gives a table as below: Poverty in Poverty in Sabah 23.0 Bumiputra 29.4 Murut 35.4 Bajau 33.3 Kadazan Dusun 26.2 Melayu 18.9 Bumiputra lain Etnik Lain-lain 5.8 Cina 2.6 Malaysia 5.7 However, in January 2009, Malaysia has banned the hiring of foreign workers in factories, stores and restaurants to protect its citizens from mass unemployment amid the global economic crisis, where most of the workers come from Indonesia and the Philippines. In relation to this, for instance an ethnic Indian Malaysian was recently sentenced to whipping and 10 months in prison for hiring six illegal immigrants at his restaurant. In other words the Malaysian employers will be afraid to take in foreign workers, without work permits. They will think twice. This is the first case where an employer is being sentenced to caning. Illegal immigrants also face caning before being deported. Yet, both side for instance, from the Indonesian and the Philippines sides, there were strong reaction from both state and the communities. Due to worry about the human rights abuse which was paid strong attention by the United Nations and the United States, it is finally there is no more repatriation against the Indonesian and Filipino workers in Sabah. Therefore, until now the Filipino and Indonesian workers may extend their work permit in Sabah without repatriating their home again. For such situation it is needed to change from the border trade to free trade zone as happened in some border regions in Southeast Asia like between Singapore and Malaysia. Through this way, this is hoped there will not be such a problem in the future in the context of the trade contact in the border regions between Malaysia and the Philippines .

VI. SOME PERSPECTIVE ON THE TRADE CONTACTS BETWEEN MALAYSIA AND THE PHILIPPINES:

A LESSON LEARNT FOR INDONESIA Shepard 1998 that what it means the development in the border area is: “satu set aktiviti dan tindakan bersama pelbagai pihak- individu, organisasi dan kumpulan-ke arah kemajuan di kawasan luar Bandar. Kemajuan yang dimaksudkan biasanya dikaitkan dengan nilai material seperti kadar pertumbuhan dalam pendapatan dan kekayaan, dan tingkat kejayaan dalam usaha membasmikan kemiskinan. Sungguhpun begitu, pada dekad kebelakangan ini, indicator kemajuan sering juga dikaitkan dengan nilai-nilai budaya, kerohanian dan etika Shepard, 1998. Job Distribution of Foreign Workers by Economic Sector in Sabah 2001-2003 Nationalities Number 2000 2000 Number 2002 2002 Number 2003 2003 Domestic Maids 5.200 5.05 8.960 6.14 10.479 6.44 Manufacturi ng 11.408 11.09 11.608 7.95 14.886 9.14 Plantation 80.414 78.17 115.819 79.34 129.840 79.76 Constructio n 1.591 1.55 3.607 2.47 2.820 1.73 Services 4.126 4.01 5.946 4.07 4.586 2.82 Others 133 0.13 40 0.03 178 0.11 Total 102.872 100 145.980 100 162.789 100