In 1993, 47 men and women drowned off the coast of Selangor. At the time, the news caused a great commo-tion here. Many people are unaware that a similar fate befalls many Indonesian migrant workers every year, with thousands of them attempting the hazardous journey to Malaysia in leaky craft that were never designed to carry human cargoes.

These vessels frequently set out, filled to the gunwales with migrants, without notifying anyone due