RI-Malaysia labor agreement meets strong opposition

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 05/19/2006 12:41 PM

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian and Malaysian labor and human rights activists voiced opposition Thursday to a preliminary migrant worker agreement signed last week by the two countries, saying the accord was legalizing a form of ""modern slavery"".

The activists said the memorandum of understanding signed by Malaysia and Indonesia in Bali on Saturday failed to address the complicated problems involving Indonesian workers in Malaysia, especially those facing housemaids.

The agreement defines housemaids as servants but does not regulate basic rights such as minimum wages, working hours, holidays and settlements of disputes.

Tati Krisnawaty from the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) said the MOU was signed by the Malaysian home minister and not the manpower minister. This showed the agreement was more about Malaysian domestic affairs than labor issues, she said.

The Indonesian signatory of the agreement was Manpower and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno.

Despite the agreement, Indonesian workers would remain unprotected by Malaysian labor laws, Tati said.

""The MOU regulates how workers should be transported from Indonesia and how they should work ... but not a single word (in the agreement) regulates their protection,"" Tati said.

She said Komnas Perempuan would take the case of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia to an upcoming International Labor Conference in Geneva and an international human rights forum.

Speaking at a hearing with lawmakers Wednesday, Erman said after the MOU signing, a joint working group formed by the two countries had agreed on core labor standards for domestic workers, including monthly minimum wages of between 400 ringgit and 500 ringgit, one day off a week, set working hours, overtime pay and annual leave.

Erman did not say when these rights would be incorporated into MOU.

Irene Fernandez, the director of Kuala Lumpur human rights group Tenaganita, said that without enshrining Indonesian workers' rights into law, the Malaysian government had only paved the way for further abuse, exploitation and violence.

""There is no mention of minimum wages nor off-days (in the MOU). Employers have 22 areas defined as responsibilities and out of this there are only four points where employers need to show care to domestic workers. And these four areas are really vague with wide interpretations. For instance, adequate rest could mean at least eight hours of rest and eight hours of sleep, or one off-day a week,"" she said.

Fernandez said the standard working contract worked out by the two countries' delegations was a kind of bonded agreement that required employees to continue working even if they were mistreated.

""Article 3(a) stipulates that a domestic worker cannot leave her employers and if she does leave, then she must account for the cost of her repatriation. This is a form of bonded labor,"" she said.

Muhammad Miftah Farid chairs the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (SBMI), which has sent some 20,000 workers to Malaysia. He said the SBMI was opposed to the agreement in its current form.

""We have been denied access to represent workers in bargaining with employers and labor exporters, and workers have no days off to allow them to unionize,"" he said.

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