Nursafinah struggles for the migrant worker's welfare<\/p>\n
Syaiful Amin, Contributor, Banyumas, Central Java<\/p>\n
Nursafinah is just another ordinary woman. But for those who are
\nnot familiar with her, she is a housemaid turned entrepreneur.<\/p>\n
She was born 30 years ago in Karangsalam village of Kemranjen
\ndistrict in Banyumas regency in Central Java. Her parents are
\nfarmers who own a plot of land that measures no more than 50
\nsquare meters.<\/p>\n
Nursafinah is the second of six siblings. She managed to
\nfinish junior high school and enroll in a senior high school but
\ndropped out a few years later.<\/p>\n
She opted to find a job to support her family.<\/p>\n
\"Of course, I wish I could continue my education. But I have
\nfour younger brothers and sisters and they also needed money to
\ngo to school,\" she said.<\/p>\n
However, she did not work far from home. Sometimes she went to
\nthe rice fields to help her parents. She also did routine
\nhousehold chores like cooking and cleaning the house.<\/p>\n
In 1994, her friend offered her to work overseas, a proposal
\nthat was hard to turn down, and would change her fate forever.<\/p>\n
So she was determined to try her luck. Nursafinah went to work
\nas a housemaid in Singapore, a country that in her wildest
\nimaginations she never thought she would visit.<\/p>\n
She was promised to receive a monthly salary of S$225 (Rp. 1.1
\nmillion). However, seven months after her arrival, she had never
\nbeen able to send money back to her parents in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Her employment agent had taken all her salary during this
\nperiod, claiming that the money was to compensate for the visa
\nand passport application fees and the airline ticket to bring her
\nto Singapore.<\/p>\n
She faced this reality without resistance.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Nursafinah often met other housemaids from
\nIndonesia and exchanged stories on various issues ranging from
\ntheir treatment by their employers, their wages to their
\nboyfriends.<\/p>\n
\"I learned a lot. I found out that in Singapore, there were
\nmany migrant workers who were ill-treated their employees. As for
\nmyself, I was quite lucky to have a nice employer,\" she said.<\/p>\n
When her two-year contract was over, Nursafinah went back home
\nand planned to work in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
\"My friends told me that the working atmosphere in Hong Kong
\nwas better and the government treated us more fairly,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She arrived in Hong Kong early in 1997. Her new employer, Wu
\nKwok-we, was a married construction worker with two children.<\/p>\n
\"I was amazed. He was only a construction worker but he could
\nafford to pay me,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Nursafinah worked six days a week. She took time off every
\nSunday and hung out with her friends, fellow migrant workers.<\/p>\n
\"There are at least 75,000 female migrant workers from
\nIndonesia who work in the nonformal sector like domestic maids,\"
\nshe remarked.<\/p>\n
Gradually she learned that there was an organization of
\nIndonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong. But its activities were
\nlimited. Yet she was committed to the organization.<\/p>\n
\"In several meetings, we agreed to change the name of the
\nassociation and make it a formal organization with statutes and
\nrules. It was later registered with the government. Well, it was
\nthe Hong Kong government,\" she said.<\/p>\n
In 1999, the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union was set up, due
\nto requests from the migrant workers.<\/p>\n
The workers wished there was any individual or organization
\nthat could provide legal advocacy for them, empower them in legal
\nmatters and negotiate with both the Hong Kong and Indonesian
\ngovernments should disputes occurred.<\/p>\n
\"At that time, there were about 2,000 members from all over of
\nIndonesia, like Kalimantan, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Java -- West
\nJava, East Java, Central Java and Yogyakarta,\" said Nursafinah,
\nwho was later appointed chairwoman.<\/p>\n
Even though all of the members are housemaids, IMWU is
\ndesigned as a professional organization with a line of
\nexecutives.<\/p>\n
The members also rented a house in Mongkok and made it IMWU's
\nheadquarters. All members are obliged to contribute a monthly
\nmembership fee, but the amount depends on their financial
\nability.<\/p>\n
Nursafinah's salary had risen to HK$2,750 (more than Rp 2.75
\nmillion), which is quite a lot when compared to the amount of
\nmonthly salary of housemaids working in Indonesia, which ranges
\nbetween Rp 300,000 and Rp 800,000.<\/p>\n
However, though migrant workers generate much foreign
\nexchange, the government of Indonesia pays little attention to
\nthem.<\/p>\n
\"The government of Indonesia never thinks about us. They even
\nturn a blind eye towards the unfair treatment that we experience.
\nWho will help and protect us if not ourselves?\" she said. \"They
\nalso don't care about our wellbeing after we return to the
\ncountry.\"<\/p>\n
Nursafinah started to ponder on the future of migrant workers
\n-- including hers -- after the working contracts were over. She
\nheld discussions with her colleagues, who enthusiastically
\nresponded with fresh ideas.<\/p>\n
The main idea is to invest the money as a form of savings. To
\nimplement this plan, they started collecting money to be used as
\ncapital, and established a company in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
She said there were 32 migrant workers from East Java, Central
\nJava and Yogyakarta, who had agreed to chip in Rp 5 million as
\ncapital. They managed to accumulate around Rp 160 million, and
\ndeposit it in a bank.<\/p>\n
In 2001, Nursafinah returned to Indonesia. She stayed in this
\ncountry but continued to communicate with her friends in Hong
\nKong.<\/p>\n
Earlier in 2003, with the consent of all the fellow
\nhousemaids-cum-investors, she established a cattle breeding
\ncompany called CV Bumi Mandiri.<\/p>\n
The word \"Bumi\" in English actually means earth, but in this
\ncase, it stands for \"BUruh MIgran\" or migrant workers, while
\n\"Mandiri\" is independent.<\/p>\n
The company started operating on July 4 in Karang Nanas
\nvillage, Sokaraja district of Banyumas, with Nursafinah as the
\nmanager.<\/p>\n
For the first phase, she has bought 20 cows and hired two men
\nto feed and take care of the cattle.<\/p>\n
Despite all these efforts to promote the migrant worker's
\nwelfare, she is still expecting the government's support to
\nchange the lives of the migrant workers.<\/p>\n
\"We still hope that the government would pay attention to
\nmigrant workers; We don't want to be housemaids for life,\"
\nNursafinah said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/nursafinah-struggles-for-the-migrant-workers-welfare-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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