A defender of victimized workers<\/p>\n
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang, Banten<\/p>\n
Adj. Comr. Sri Suari is known among her fellow police officers as
\na friendly but tough leader.<\/p>\n
Her name comes first on the list of police officers manning
\nthe Soekarno-Hatta International Airport police station -- not
\nbecause she is a woman officer but because she is the boss.<\/p>\n
Being placed in charge of security at the international
\nairport indicates the trust that the Jakarta Police Headquarters
\nhas in the 40-year-old officer.<\/p>\n
Suari, who has been at the airport police station since 2000,
\nhas one very special focus in her job: providing maximum
\nprotection for Indonesian workers arriving from overseas.<\/p>\n
Soekarno-Hatta's Terminal III is a notorious point of
\ndisembarkation for homecoming workers, who often are treated as
\nmilch cows. The corrupt and greedy individuals preying on the
\nworkers include government officials, police officers, bank
\nemployees, non-governmental organization activists, bogus
\njournalists and the bus drivers that take the workers from the
\nairport to their villages.<\/p>\n
Since being assigned to the airport, Suari has uncovered 35
\ncases of extortion targeting overseas workers from the moment
\nthey left the aircraft to the minute they set foot in their home
\nvillages.<\/p>\n
The crimes range from airport bus crews demanding "cigarette
\nmoney" and businesspeople forcing workers to change their money,
\nto strangers forcing them to buy electronic goods at inflated
\nprices and outright robbery.<\/p>\n
"About half of the cases went to court and the rest were
\nsettled amicably," she said. "Some cases are better settled out
\nof court to avoid the complicated legal procedures and time-
\nconsuming processes."<\/p>\n
Suari said the extortion of overseas workers had become a form
\nof organized crime, involving officials and individuals with no
\nlegal authority.<\/p>\n
Suari has written a guidebook that provides detailed
\ninformation to returning migrant workers about how to avoid being
\nvictimized.<\/p>\n
She wrote the book after much research on the different forms
\nof extortion and difficulties faced by the workers.<\/p>\n
She posed as a returning worker, wearing Muslim clothes like
\nmost of the workers. She spent several days and nights in
\nTerminal III, where arriving workers have their documents
\nprocessed.<\/p>\n
"One day, a suspicious cleaning service worker chased me and
\nkicked me because I always covered my face and turned my back
\nwhen he asked me why I was still there," she said.<\/p>\n
On another occasion, she posed as one of seven workers bound
\nfor their home villages in Cianjur and Sukabumi, West Java. She
\nstayed at one of the workers' home.<\/p>\n
"I wanted to learn what happened to workers during their trip
\nfrom the airport to their village, and see the real condition of
\nthe workers' families.<\/p>\n
"I got swollen feet from walking for hours from the nearest
\ntown to the workers' village. There was no transportation to the
\nvillage," she said.<\/p>\n
Suari successfully employed this disguise tactic last year
\nwhen she bust a drug trafficking ring. She posed as a courier
\ndelivering a package to guests at a hotel on Jl. Rasuna Said in
\nSouth Jakarta. She arrested a Malaysian and two Indonesians with
\n4.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in their possession.<\/p>\n
Although she is always focused on other crimes that occur in
\nher jurisdiction, for Suari protecting overseas workers from
\nextortion is a top priority.<\/p>\n
"Arriving workers are easy extortion targets because they
\ncarry large sums of foreign currencies," she said.<\/p>\n
One thing she has done to help workers is to assign women
\npolice officers to the airport to hand out police telephone
\nnumbers to the workers, so they can contact the police in case of
\nemergency.<\/p>\n
Last September, she required all returning workers to deposit
\ntheir money at Bank BNI before leaving the airport, and
\nwithdrawing it from a branch office once they got home.<\/p>\n
Workers who are unwilling to do this must sign a statement
\nconfirming that they understand the possible security risks.<\/p>\n
She cannot say just how effective these measures have been, in
\nlarge part because the police have only been able to catch the
\nsmall fries, while the big fish behind the crimes remain
\nuntouched.<\/p>\n
"These migrant workers have contributed trillions of rupiah to
\nthe state coffers. The tragedy is that the state fails to protect
\nthem.<\/p>\n
"I am afraid that they will file a class action suit against
\nthe state someday, when they realize that their basic rights are
\nnot respected," she said.<\/p>\n
Suari was born in 1963 and grew up in the small town of Bima
\non Sumbawa island in West Nusa Tenggara. She was raised by her
\nmother Maria Sunarty after her father died when she was nine
\nmonths old.<\/p>\n
After graduating from high school in 1982, she joined the
\npolice force. In 1983 she was assigned as a shooting instructor,
\na position she held until being sent to the officer training
\ncourse in 1992.<\/p>\n
She was sent to the Police Academy in 1994, graduating in 1997
\nwith honors. She continued her studies at the Police Science
\nInstitute, graduating in 1999 again with honors.<\/p>\n
While serving as the airport police chief, Suari also pursued
\nher master's degree in Police Sciences at the University of
\nIndonesia, completing the degree in August 2002.<\/p>\n
She married Sr. Comr. Sri Wahyudi in 1986 and the couple have
\na teenage daughter and a son. Her husband is posted at the
\nNational Narcotics Body.<\/p>\n
Suari continues to hope that some day the decision makers in
\nthe central government will begin to pay attention to the plight
\nof the migrant workers, and start providing them the legal
\nprotection they deserve.<\/p>\n
"I sincerely hope that the decision makers will issue policies
\nthat allow the workers to obtain more humane treatment, so that
\nthey can enjoy the fruits of their toil," she said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/a-defender-of-victimized-workers-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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