T

he recent executions of Indonesians Siti Zainab and Karni Medi Tarsim in Saudi Arabia underscore the grim situation facing the nation'€™s migrant workers.

About 700,000 documented workers leave Indonesia each year looking for work abroad. The number of undocumented workers is estimated to be much higher.

In the case of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), the origin of the largest number of undocumented workers in Malaysia, most of their problems start at home.

Idris Bahy said that he was happy when he landed a job in a factory in Brunei Darussalam where a relative worked.

The 40-year-old resident of Adonara Island in East Flores, NTT, left for Jakarta to find a certified agent to handle his application for a work visa, since there were none in the province that were authorized to send workers to Brunei.

A list of agents from the Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) was outdated. When Idris finally found one, he was duped.

Similar situations lead many would-be workers to exit Indonesia by sea via Nunukan, East Kalimantan, albeit without a work visa, Idris says.

According to Yohanes B. Bria, a project officer for the Tifa Foundation NGO, most migrant workers from NTT work in Sabah, Malaysia, where relatives '€” Indonesians comprise of about one-third of the local population '€” might have residence permits.

'€œSelf-departures raise legal problems because the government doesn'€™t recognize them if there'€™s a workplace conflict,'€ Yohanes said.

'€œTemporary migration is natural for us. Our ancestors started it when Malaysia was still under the British Empire,'€ East Flores Council member Agustinus Boli said. '€œUnfortunately what they are doing now is by law illegal and the local government hasn'€™t done anything to protect them.'€

The council has been drafting a bylaw that would offer migrant workers protection and special programs at the end of their contracts, Agustinus said. '€œIt could take the form of workshops on entrepreneurial skills or the disbursement of money for them to start their own business. The facility could deter them from going back multiple times.'€

Funding is a problem, however.

The local Social, Manpower and Transmigration Office had an annual budget of Rp 10 million (US$770) last year, Yoseph Marsianus Matutina, the office'€™s training and placement chief, said. This year, there'€™s no money at all for its programs.

Tifa Foundation project manager Nani Vindanita says at least 1.8 million Indonesians working abroad have departed illegally or without authorization.

Nani said that 80 percent of the problems faced by migrant workers take place during the pre-departure phase because of people'€™s poor knowledge of migration procedures, paperwork and contracts as well as inadequate training, poor placement and unacceptable work environments.

'€œIn a bid to find a solution to the problems, the foundation focused its programs on community-based activities to protect and empower migrant workers and their families,'€ Nani said.

Funded by the Australian government, the foundation '€” and its partners in East and West Nusa Tenggara '€” has been approaching officials and local councilors to create regulations to support migrant workers under its Poverty Reduction through Safety in Migration program.

Nani said the draft would adopt the Tifa Foundation'€™s program that has established community organizations for migrant workers, their families and local authorities.

'€œIt will include the provision of services for migrant workers all under one roof. In the future, we will equate steps with fellow councilors at regency and district levels.'€

Anwar Hajral, the secretary of the East Flores Council'€™s Commission V on social welfare, said that migrant workers made huge contributions to the local economy.

 '€œMigrant workers contribute Rp 81 trillion in remittances every year to the state, which can cover the expenditures of all 10 regencies in East Nusa Tenggara,'€ Anwar said. '€œIt would be enough to create jobs here.'€