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Anis Hidayah: A life dedicated to migrant workers
Anis Hidayah has always been destined to work with migrant workers
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A
nis Hidayah has always been destined to work with migrant workers.
The early life of Migrant Care’s executive director was full of the heroic figures of women who became maids in foreign countries.
JP/Ika Krismantari
Little Anis saw many of her neighbors in Bojonegoro, East Java, choose that profession to make a living.
“My village became one of the centers for migrant worker recruitment. I noticed the family whose house was in front of mine. All of them — the daughter, the granddaughter — became maids in Malaysia,” Anis told the The Jakarta Post during an interview in her home in Depok.
It was not until Anis went to the University of Jember in East Java that she became aware of the complex problems facing migrant workers in this country.
Anis decided to plunge into a movement that strove for migrant worker rights after seeing so many unresolved cases involving abused migrant workers with her own eyes.
“I know there are a lot of issues such as gender or labor that also need to be handled. But after meeting my activist friends who were advocates for migrant workers’ rights, I realized the complexity of the problem and that something needed to be done,” she said.
Seeing multiple cases of migrant workers being abused, raped and mistreated by employers and recruitment agencies — and a government that paid little attention to the issue — made Anis set her heart to help migrant workers.
Therefore, with a group of friends, she established the East Java Women’s Solidarity movement, aimed at empowering migrant workers, in 1998.
Since then there has been no turning back for Anis. She has dedicated her life and all her time and energy to fight for better treatment for migrant workers.
She has immersed herself in advocacy programs for migrant workers that provide legal assistance for laborers needing legal assistance and also providing consultations, education and information to the workers, many of whom are poorly educated.
The 34-year old said she enjoyed every second of her work.
Anis, who was involved in the investigations of several Indonesian migrant worker abuse cases abroad, admitted that working as an advocate for migrant workers is her hobby.
“I am so lucky my hobby can be channeled through this profession. I don’t feel any burden. I enjoy it very much,” Anis said.
Anis is indeed lucky to have a profession that is also her passion.
Therefore, it is no surprise to see Anis dedicate all her life to the well-being of Indonesian migrant workers.
Anis’ full dedication to migrant workers can be seen from years of hard work in promoting the rights of Indonesian laborers abroad, sometimes at great personal cost.
Anis put her dream of finishing a master’s degree in law at Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University on hold indefinitely to concentrate on advocacy.
Anis arrived in Jakarta to do field research in early 2000. Exposure to so many migrant worker cases in the capital led Anis to shelve her studies for the time being.
“I realize my thesis will mean nothing because the condition of migrant workers is deteriorating. So rather spending my time on useless research, I take part in handling cases,” Anis said.
Anis eventually established Migrant Care in 2004.
With five friends, Anis set up the organization to consult and provide legal assistance to migrant workers.
Apart from giving up her studies, Anis also made other sacrifices, one of which was having a perfect wedding.
While most women want a perfect celebration for their wedding day, Anis had only a humble and small party at her hometown with no honeymoon. Two days later, she had to tend to several Indonesian migrant workers who were under threat of deportation by Malaysia.
Anis’ sacrifices also affect her family, who complains that she doesn’t spend enough time with her husband and their 5-year-old daughters.
The recent risks are even more dramatic as they affect the health of the woman, who is currently nine months pregnant.
Anis, who was supposed to be on maternity leave, had to return to work for the case of Ruyati binti Satubi, a migrant worker who was beheaded in Saudi Arabia.
An amazing thing happened after Anis heard the news about Ruyati’s execution.
A week before, Anis told the Post that she couldn’t get out the bed but after hearing the news, suddenly she was able to move and even held a press conference at her house.
“My husband laughed at me, telling me I am such a migrant worker-minded person,” she said.
Anis’ husband may be right after all. Talking to the woman, who is the member of Asian Migrant Forum Executive Committee, it’s obvious how migrant workers have taken up a big portion of Anis’ mind.
Apparently, it is not only her mind. Anis also has given her feelings to the issue.
During the interview, the Post found how Anis took migrant worker issues very personally.
Anis confessed that when she heard of the beheading of Ruyati, she felt depressed because she felt she had failed in implementing the mandate given by Ruyati’s children to save their mother.
Anis’ eyes were blazing and her tone turned serious when discussing the case. She sat bolt upright when commenting on the government’s failure to protect migrant workers who have made a huge contribution to the local economy.
“According to the 2010 data, we sent 6.5 million migrant workers who contributed US$7.1 billion in remittances. But there are 89,000 unresolved cases and more than 300 migrant workers facing the death penalty,” she said.
Anis blamed this on Indonesia’s treatment of migrant workers only as a cash cows and its failure to protect them.
The nation’s strong patriarchal system, she said, has also contributed to making things worse as no gender sensitivity has been applied in the existing law.
“More than 70 percent of our migrant workers are female, but the Migrant Worker Law doesn’t mention anything about this,” Anis said.
Therefore, Migrant Care has been calling to revise the existing law as well as to ratify a United Nation convention on migrant workers, Anis said.
It seems there is a long way to go before her mission can be accomplished. No progress has been made so far by the government on the issue.
“Sometimes I wonder what [the government] is waiting for. Do they want another 5,000 migrant workers to die, or want another 5,000 being tortured before doing something?”
