Airport company admits Terminal III is inhumane<\/p>\n
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang<\/p>\n
For Darsiah, 58, meeting her own daughter was not easy. Arriving
\nfrom Indramayu, West Java, on Monday afternoon, she had to stay
\novernight at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, waiting
\nfor her daughter Marni, 25, to exit from the airport's terminal
\nIII.<\/p>\n
Marni is one of hundreds of thousands of Indonesian migrant
\nworkers working in Middle Eastern countries. She has been working
\nin Yemen for two years.<\/p>\n
\"We can only wait outside the fence and sit on the ground,\"
\nDarsiah complained. \"When I first came to the airport in 2001,
\nthings were much better. I could wait for my daughter in the
\nairport lobby.\"<\/p>\n
The migrant workers must go through the airport's Terminal III
\nupon their arrival before they can go home. The terminal was
\nbuilt in September 1999 to accommodate and process the homecoming
\nworkers. However, it is now where they are extorted.<\/p>\n
Even with the airport's police attempt to curb extortion over
\nmigrant workers by, among other things, urging them to deposit
\ntheir money in state-owned Bank BNI before leaving the terminal,
\nthe practices can still be found.<\/p>\n
Relatives picking up the workers have also become targets.
\nThose who are not familiar with terminal III or have little
\ninformation on the procedure to pick up migrant workers can
\neasily be victimized by people offering information on the flight
\nschedule for between Rp 60,000 (US$7) and Rp 100,000.<\/p>\n
Even for those who already know the procedure, they still have
\nto wait for at least four hours before meeting the migrant
\nworkers. They must first report to security personnel at terminal
\nIII before the workers' names are called and are allowed to leave
\nthe airport.<\/p>\n
\"The government has lost its humanity by letting us wait under
\nthe heat in the open. I have been here for around six hours and
\nstill must wait for ... I don't know,\" Muslihat, a 58-year-old
\nfather from Cianjur, West Java, complained.<\/p>\n
He went to the airport to pick up his daughter Neneng
\nNurhayati, 26, who has been working in Saudi Arabia for two
\nyears.<\/p>\n
The extortion did not stop once the workers left the terminal.
\nA migrant worker has to pay Rp 60,000, 10 times the regular price
\nof Rp 6,000, for an ojek driver to take her to the airport
\nshuttle bus stop, which is less than one kilometer from the
\nterminal.<\/p>\n
Airport operator PT Angkasa Pura spokesman Syahrial Syam
\nadmitted the conditions at terminal III were inhumane.<\/p>\n
However, he argued that the operator would not improve the
\nsituation because the ministry of manpower and transmigration
\nwould build a terminal outside the airport for the migrant
\nworkers.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/airport-company-admits-terminal-iii-is-inhumane-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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