JP\/7\/FAIZA
\nIndonesian workers caught in debt bondage in Malaysia<\/p>\n
Debt slaves plight ignored by Government<\/p>\n
Faiza Mardzoeki
\nCoordinator, Organization and Education
\nWomen's Solidarity (SP)
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The planned deportation of more than 400,000 Indonesian
\nworkers from Malaysia only reinforces their status as debt
\nslaves. Malaysia now has almost 2 million Indonesian guest
\nworkers with legal status and another 500,000 without the proper
\ndocuments. Malaysia's new laws on foreign workers, and the
\nIndonesian government's pathetic acceptance of these laws almost
\nwithout any protest, buries most of the deported workers in even
\ngreater debt, making them even more the slaves of Malaysian
\nplantation and construction companies and Indonesian labor
\nagencies.<\/p>\n
The new Malaysian law has forced them to leave Malaysia. But
\nmost of them want to return to Malaysia. There is still work
\nthere, while there is no work in their home provinces in
\nIndonesia. As Malaysia's construction sector faced the threat of
\ncoming to a halt, it, at least for now, has discontinued the
\nplanned deportation.<\/p>\n
More than 100,000 Indonesians working on the plantations and
\nconstruction sites in Sabah have recently passed through the tiny
\nisland of Nunukan, in East Kalimantan. According to a
\nspokesperson from the Ministry of Labor, there are more than
\n50,000 deportees now in Nunukan, a district of only 30,000 local
\ninhabitants. Most of these workers originally come from provinces
\nlike Flores and South Celebes, as well as from Java.<\/p>\n
I visited Nunukan for a week in early August to gather data
\nfor Solidaritas Perempuan (Women's Solidarity) and Solidaritas
\nBuruh Migran Indonesia (Solidarity for Indonesian Migrant
\nWorkers). I spoke to many of these workers, many of them thin
\nfrom malnutrition and hard work. In every case, they told a story
\nof debt bondage. Working in Malaysian plantations without
\ndocuments, they were already subject to harassment and
\nexploitation by employers. Many are paid only between 6 to 8
\nMalaysian ringgit a day, when most surveys state that one needs
\n15 ringgit per day for a decent life.<\/p>\n
Most of them quickly fall into debt to their employer, binding
\nthem to conditions of long hours and low wages.<\/p>\n
The new wave of forced deportations only deepens this
\nindebtedness. Almost all the workers I spoke to explained that
\nthey had to borrow money, usually around 150 ringgit, from their
\nemployers so that they could buy food and other basic needs on
\ntheir journey to Nunukan, and for their first few days on the
\nisland. That money was to be paid back later through deductions
\nfrom the workers 6 ringgit per day.<\/p>\n
But the deportation indebtedness goes deeper than that. To
\nhave new documents issued and while they wait for that to happen,
\nthe fate of the workers is surrendered to the various labor
\nagencies. They find \"accommodation\", if you can call it that, for
\nsome of the workers.<\/p>\n
More than 10,000 were crowded under the tarpaulin shelters
\nalong the main road at Sungai Bolong provided by labor agency, PT
\nKaltim. All the workers living under PT Kaltim's tarpaulin were
\ngetting into deeper debt. They would be billed by the agency for
\nthe \"shelter\" as well as the two miserable meals of salted fish
\nand scrawny vegetables.<\/p>\n
Still, if they wanted to bathe in the temporary bathrooms at
\nthe back of the nearby markets, they needed to pay Rp 2,000 per
\nperson. To go to the toilet costs Rp 1,000.<\/p>\n
On top of that, they would need to borrow more money for their
\npassports, for passport photographs and everything else required
\nby the bureaucratic process.<\/p>\n
But all the effort still falls upon the workers themselves. I
\nstood outside the Nunukan Immigration Office and watched the
\nthousands of workers line up to see the Immigration officials.<\/p>\n
The tiny office at Nunukan usually handles 800 applicants per
\nday. They had received not a single extra staff member from
\nJakarta, but they managed to get through 1,300 people per day.
\nBut still thousands milled around outside the office desperate
\nfor their papers.<\/p>\n
Most workers said that they ended up with debts of between
\n1,200 and 1,500 Malaysian ringgit to the agency on top of the 150
\nringgit debt to their employer.<\/p>\n
And then in 12 months time it was time to renew documents and
\nthe whole indebtedness process started again.<\/p>\n
The new Malaysian laws are not immigration laws but laws
\nentrenching debt slavery. The Indonesian government's
\nacquiescence in this policy is acquiescence in the debt bondage
\nof hundreds of thousands of Indonesian citizens.<\/p>\n
In fact, there is obviously no need for these laws at all.
\nAfter all, most of the workers are going to return to Malaysia.
\nWhy did they need to leave Malaysia in the first place? Their
\ndocuments could have been much more easily renewed in Malaysia
\nitself. In today's world, there are more and more people seeking
\nwork outside their own countries, especially where their own
\ncountries are mismanaged by their governments and exploited by
\nforeign interests.<\/p>\n
That is why there are almost 2.5 million Indonesians working
\nin Malaysia. So the Indonesian and Malaysian government have a
\nresponsibility to ensure that these workers are guaranteed their
\nrights and not turned into slaves.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government should demand the repeal of the new
\nlaws in Malaysia. Indonesia should seek a new arrangement whereby
\nIndonesian workers in Malaysia can renew their documents without
\nleaving Malaysia. All Indonesian illegal workers in Malaysia
\nshould be granted an amnesty now and helped to arrange for new
\ndocuments.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the 50,000 Indonesian workers in Nunukan need urgent
\naid. The special health post set up to service the tens of
\nthousands of deported debt slaves has only two doctors. The local
\nhealth center, which has to service also the whole of Nunukan's
\nown inhabitants, has only seven doctors. Already at least 22
\npeople have died, as confirmed by a physician of the Nunukan
\nhealth center and a volunteer of the Nusatenggara Community
\nAssociation. There were only 10 tents supplied by the government.
\nThere is an emergency in Nunukan but there is no emergency
\nresponse. Shelter, more doctors and nurses, and proper food is
\nneeded urgently.<\/p>\n
In fact, a government that really cared about its citizens and
\ndid not want them to become exported slave laborers would do even
\nmore. It would provide free food for them while they renewed
\ntheir documents and it would waive all passport and other
\nbureaucratic fees. In that way, all these hard working
\nIndonesians would be able to return to Malaysia to work free of
\nthe debt that is enslaving them.<\/p>\n
At the moment, the Malaysian government collects a head tax on
\nevery migrant worker. The agencies collect their fees from the
\nmigrant workers. The Indonesian bureaucracy receives its fees and
\ntribute. The Indonesian workers seeking a livelihood overseas
\nfind themselves as debt slaves.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp7faiza-1447899208",
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