Better services for migrant workers<\/p>\n
By Novan Iman Santosa<\/p>\n
CILACAP, Central Java (JP): Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris
\nhas promised the government's utmost to protect migrant workers
\nfrom mistreatment and to better serve them upon their arrival
\nhome.<\/p>\n
Among the most immediate programs the government has launched
\nwas the opening of a separate embarkation and debarkation
\nterminal at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport where the
\nmigrant workers would not only be better served, but also
\nprotected from extortionists as has been the case for years.<\/p>\n
\"President B.J. Habibie has agreed to operate Terminal Three
\nof the airport as a point of departure and arrival of workers,\"
\nFahmi said in a dialog with about 400 former and prospective
\nmigrant workers here on Saturday. The minister was accompanied by
\nDin Syamsuddin, Director General of Manpower Placement and
\nDevelopment, and Soewardi, Director of Migrant Manpower Services.<\/p>\n
The new terminal would be opened on Aug. 31. There are
\ncurrently two terminals at the airport, one for domestic flights
\nand another for international ones.<\/p>\n
\"The new terminal is intended to provide better protection for
\nthe home-coming migrant workers from extortion and other unfair
\ntreatment,\" Fahmi said.<\/p>\n
He promised similar facilities would be provided for the
\nworkers at the Adi Sumarmo Airport in Central Java town of
\nSurakarta and the Juanda Airport in Surabaya. He did not say when
\nthe two airports would operate the facilities.<\/p>\n
Airport checkpoints were cited as a place where home-coming
\nmigrant workers were very often subjected to poor treatment from
\nofficials and other people, including extortion and robbery of
\ntheir possession, mainly their hard-earned money.<\/p>\n
A former migrant worker, Siti Nafsiah, told the dialog with
\nFahmi that a police officer at the Ahmad Yani Airport in Semarang
\ntook her check of Rp 45 million which she earned after working
\nfor seven years in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
\"It was a policeman who took my check,\" she said incredulously
\nwhen Fahmi asked why she had not reported it to the police.<\/p>\n
Nafsiah said she also sent checks twice to her husband in
\nIndonesia but they never reached him. \"This (financial) loss
\ncaused quarrels between my husband and I,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Fahmi told the audience, especially the future workers, to
\ntake a lesson from Siti's experience. He urged them to use
\nbanking services.<\/p>\n
Not all of the workers, however, had sad stories. Aryani, who
\nworked for four and a half years in Taiwan, flashed about ten
\ngold bracelets circling her wrist and spoke of how she now had
\nseveral paddy fields.<\/p>\n
\"Now that I have a lot of money, I don't want to work in the
\nfields any more,\" she said to Fahmi. Aryani's husband is also a
\nmigrant worker now working in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Another success story was told by Yusuf who worked in Saudi
\nArabia for two years with his wife. \"Most of the money that we
\nmade went to our children's education,\" he said, adding with
\npride that his eldest son is now studying at the highly respected
\nAl Azhar University in Cairo.<\/p>\n
Fahmi said the government would do its best to enable more
\nmigrant workers achieve similar success. \"The government can't
\nprovide enough jobs here, so it is better to be a migrant worker
\nwith a better salary,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Officials said last year an estimated 613,000 Indonesians are
\ncurrently working overseas; observers, however, believed the
\nactual number is much higher as many Indonesians work illegally
\nin some neighboring countries.<\/p>\n
Reports of abuse and manipulation of the mostly poorly-
\neducated women workers abounded, however.<\/p>\n
Din Syamsuddin said the government would provide a credit
\nscheme to enable the workers to pay fees to recruitment agencies
\nin the countries where they worked. The labor export companies
\nhere would act as guarantors to the scheme.<\/p>\n
\"The scheme is important because some countries are asking for
\na large fee to pay agencies there,\" Din said.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong asked for a fee of Rp 17,845,000 (US$ 2,444), Taiwan
\nasked Rp 24,850,000, and Malaysia would soon raise its fee of Rp
\n1,685,000. \"Those amounts are only for Indonesians who work as
\ndomestic helpers. Other positions would require different fees,\"
\nDin said.<\/p>\n
Fahmi said his office was planning an international \"road
\nshow\" to expand the market for Indonesian workers. Unlike
\nprevious missions which involved only the government, this time
\naround the Indonesian Association of Labor Export Companies
\n(Apjati) would also be involved, he said.<\/p>\n
\"The Netherlands and the United States need a lot of nurses,
\nbut we can't yet meet the demand,\" Fahmi said.<\/p>\n
Roeswidi, the Cilacap regency secretary, said the region sent
\n9,665 migrant workers in the 1998\/99 fiscal year. \"The workers
\nhave sent home Rp 69 billion (US$ 9.45 million), larger than
\nCilacap annual budget,\" said Roeswidi admitting that the success
\nwas also followed by several problems.<\/p>\n
\"The rate of divorce among migrant worker families has
\nincreased,\" Roeswidi said without providing exact numbers. There
\nwere also cases of brokers falsifying papers in their sending of
\nworkers, he said.<\/p>\n
Sri Soebagyo, an assistant to the governor in Banyumas region,
\ndescribed the impact of the economic crisis in the province.
\n\"There are 2.5 million jobless people, which constitutes 16
\npercent of the work force in the province,\" he said.<\/p>",
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