The divorce rate in Banyumas regency, Central Java, is directly proportional to the number of migrant workers from the area, a local administrative chief says.
"Domestic issues, such as extramarital affairs and divorces, are rife among families of migrant workers," said Joko Isnuroso, chief of Cihonje village, Banyumas regency, Central Java.
He said recently that around 600 of the 5,000 residents in Cihonje worked abroad, mostly in East Asian and Middle Eastern countries, making it the largest supplier of female migrant workers in the regency.
"Divorce cases are growing by the month, especially when the wives return home from working overseas, due to various reasons," Joko said.
He said wives often returned home pregnant from another man, or with a child from another man, and that husbands also often cheated on their wives in their absence.
More than 150 divorce cases have been recorded in the village since 2000. "Cihonje was a harmonious village before a growing number of women began to work overseas to append their families' income," said Joko.
Other common domestic disturbances include discord among family members, Joko said.
"The most common problem concerns how remittance is distributed and when the money is directly transferred to the wives' parents, triggering conflict between the husband and his parents-in-law," he said.
Local resident Wahidin, whose wife works in Saudi Arabia and whose daughter has applied for employment in Hong Kong, said domestic issues were prevalent among families of migrant workers.
"It's a common thing here; sacrificing marriage for the sake of working overseas. Thank God I'm not like that because I still can take care of my family," Wahidin told The Jakarta Post.
Another villager, Karso, 35, said he had lost contact five months ago with his wife who works in Saudi Arabia.
"I don't know why. I hope she's still fine there. I'm still loyal to her and await her return."
Ex-migrant worker Tajuddin, a resident of Cihonje who has recently returned after working in Saudi Arabia since 1992, said Saudi men were notorious for being lecherous.
"Our female migrant workers often find it difficult to behave in front of their male employers. If they smile out of politeness, they are afraid of being perceived as giving out a wrong signal," Tajuddin said.
The 46-year old said Saudi men often misunderstood the friendly attitude of Indonesians, especially Javanese. "That's why they are subject to sexual harassment there," he added.
Activist Narsidah, who works for the United Nations Fund for Women, told the Post that cases involving Indonesian migrant workers were complex.
"Some are victimized by their employers while others are not strong enough to resist the temptations in their respective destination countries," said the 30-year old who is also a former migrant worker in Hong Kong.
However, she said the inability to resist temptation was not the sole cause for cases of sexual harassment and divorce.
"Some of the cases I have handled indicated that it was indeed them (the migrant workers) who wished to have children with a foreigner, saying it was a way of improving their offspring," Narsidah said.
Boy Budiman of the regency's manpower agency migrant worker division said that despite the abuses, there had been an increase in the number of people choosing to work overseas.
He said his office had recorded that 2,441 residents of Banyumas had become migrant workers in 2007. "As of July this year, 1,262 people have left to work overseas, 90 percent of whom are women."
He said the majority of the workers went to Asian countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea. Others headed to Saudi Arabia and a number of European countries.
