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Blood, sweat and tears -- at a price
Hamid (second from right) cries by the coffin of his wife, Siti Tarwiyah who died after being abused by her employer in Saudi Arabia
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Hamid (second from right) cries by the coffin of his wife, Siti Tarwiyah who died after being abused by her employer in Saudi Arabia. The other coffin contains the body of Susmiyati, who met a similar fate. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)
Whether it is heavy work demands, homesickness, depression, the denial of a family life of their own, or physical abuse, many Indonesian workers pay dearly for jobs overseas.
Of the 4.5 million Indonesians working overseas, 70 percent are women working within the households of their employers.
The National Authority for the Placement and Protection of Indonesia Overseas Workers (BNP2TKI) says that some 70,000 new workers are being sent overseas every month.
In the last decade, there have been hundreds of media reports on the deaths and abuse of Indonesian migrant workers.
The export of women for domestic service has grown dramatically since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.
As the supply of labor has increased, demand has grown in Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and Asian countries that were less affected by the crisis, like Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The 2004 case of Flores-born Nirmala Bonat, who was physically abused by her Malaysian employer, is just the tip of the iceberg. In 2006, the story of Ceriyati, who hails from Brebes in Central Java, was reported by the media.
Ceriyati had set about tying sheets and clothes together to escape from the 15th floor apartment of her employer. She was rescued by the fire department after reaching the eighth floor.
Just this week, a Singaporean family was charged with the abuse of an Indonesian worker -- including pulling out her teeth and pouring hot wax over her.
The 152 reports of abuse that were made to non-governmental organization Migrant Care in 2007 included cases of broken bones, burn injuries, bruises and cuts. The workers had more often than not broken bones by jumping out the windows of the buildings they worked in.
In 2007, some 212 migrant worker died overseas, 119 of whom were women, according to Migrant Care. More than 50 deaths were caused by accidents in the workplace, 24 deaths were caused by violence, and 10 people committed suicide.
"The cases are not decreasing over time; the numbers are going up and up," Migrant Care director Anis Hidayah said.
Bilateral talks with destination countries on migrant workers have taken place and the less than one-year-old BNP2TKI is working hard to provide protection for migrant workers, however, progress has been slow.
The plight of migrant workers stems from a number of problems, which begin right here in Indonesia.
Poverty in rural districts, and the failures of the education system -- which leave hundreds and thousands of workers without the skills to make them competitive in the workforce -- are among the first batch of problems.
Indonesia has around 400 migrant worker agencies, many of which are not competent. The language courses given to workers may be crash courses, completed in one to three days. Agencies also often provide false information regarding the ages and education levels of the workers on their books.
The West Java coastal city of Indramayu is one of the areas that produces many migrant workers.
In the village of Cibeber, Sukagemiwang, men may be heard to say: "most of the women here go overseas and work, the men just sit around".
A former migrant worker, Nasyirin, said few people in Cibeber were educated. "Most of the people here move to big cities to work as maids or they go overseas. There's not much to do here, other than work on somebody else's rice farm," he said.
While The Jakarta Post was interviewing Nasyirin, three men -- Darsima, 40, Marojali, 34, and Ridwan, 26 -- came to visit him.
Darsima was there to seek advice about looking for his 20-year-old daughter who left to work in Jeddah two years ago. "I only heard from her in the first three months. I have had no contact with her since," he said.
Marojali was looking for his 24-year-old sister, while Ridwan was looking for his mother Suneri.
Nasyirin himself is looking his sister, Muinah, who left home five years ago.
The men said the women had been lured into working overseas by recruiters from agencies.
Nasyirin said it was hard to rely on the BNP2TKI for help.
"We have to be active and constantly ask and fight for our relatives or our voices will not be heard," Nasyirin said.
Anis said the only solution the BNP2TKI could offer was to send troubled workers home. "They cannot offer legal protection," she said.
The government aims to send 3.9 million workers overseas in 2009, with the total value of remittance estimated at Rp 186 trillion.
"They call migrant workers national heroes, but the government cannot even offer them legal protection," she said.
Anis said bilateral agreements with destination countries only considered the placement of migrant workers, excluding protection.
Migrant workers are not fully protected by the Labor Law. Despite the rising demand for domestic workers overseas, they are considered part of households, and have yet to be considered professionals.
BNP2TKI head Jumhur Hidayat said it was facing very complex circumstances in addressing the migration of workers.
"It's a new experience for the labor movement. If we're talking about the labor movement, we are talking about the 18th or 19th century. The ILO (International Labor Organization) itself is looking for models to protect domestic helpers because they are employed in isolated environments. They are excluded from labor laws, other than in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Some countries put them in the family law and many others in the immigration law. From a labor perspective, it's baffling," he said.
In Indonesia alone, where violence against domestic workers also occurs, the national legislature has only recently begun to deliberate the bill on domestic workers.
Indonesia also has yet to ratify the 1990 UN Convention on the protection of the rights migrant workers and their families. In December 2007, the ILO said the problem of Indonesian migrant workers was caused by Indonesia not ratifying the convention.
Anis said Migrant Care was pushing the government to ratify the convention.
For the time being, Jumhur said the BNP2TKI was working on a monitoring center for Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia.
Seventy-five Indonesian workers died in Malaysia last year, a higher number of deaths than in any other country.
"The center will monitor the establishment of healthy relationships between migrant workers and their employers," he said.
Jumhur pointed out that government commitment on this issue was very high. He said embassies were working with lawyers, attaches and staff knowledgeable on labor issues.
"It's a totally different situation compared to previous years. However, we know that it's not as easy as it sounds," he said.
