A desperate plea for help from East Java

By Santo Koesoebjono

WASSENAAR, the Netherlands (JP): The phone rang at my home in Holland. It was midnight here, or 5 a.m. in Indonesia. I picked it up and heard a woman's voice. She told me her name was Wati and that I did not know her. With an emotional and tensed voice she told me her story.

"Bapak, I am calling you from Nganjuk (East Java). I got your name, address and phone number from a magazine in which you wrote. Bapak, can you please help me find a job in Holland? The factory has fired me and now I have no job. I have a high school diploma. I used to work in a factory as a tailor. My husband worked as a driver at another company. He also has lost his job. We have a five-year-old daughter. We are poor and desperate. Can you find me a job in Holland? I am now living with my sister, a school teacher, trying to find a job here." I explained to her that finding employment in Holland was not easy since one needs to have a diploma in a special skill or expertise. Unemployment among unskilled laborers is high.

"Can I come there and find work by myself then?" asked Wati. The chance of a foreigner getting a job is very slim, I told her. To enter Holland alone is difficult enough, especially for people from outside Europe. I can imagine how hard it would be for this woman to understand that a rich country like Holland does not have jobs, especially for people with her qualifications.

Wati continued: "I am also trying to apply to work as a domestic helper in other countries, as a TKW (female worker abroad), but the cost to apply to the Ministry of Manpower is very high. I can't afford it." I said that working as a TKW offered the opportunity to earn a higher salary and was therefore attractive.

However, I also warned her of the possibility of maltreatment and harassment she could encounter working in foreign countries. Many stories have been published in the media about the maltreatment Indonesian workers received during their stay in foreign countries. It is true that there are also success stories told by the lucky ones, but one should not neglect the risks and dangers. I am not sure if she heard my warning as she was so eager to get support and a job.

After talking for about 10 minutes I suggested we end the conversation because it would cost her a fortune. Wati repeated: "Bapak, please help me. I feel better having talked with you rather than writing a letter. It makes me feel closer to you. But I will write a letter and send you my resume. Please respond to my letter. Promise me, Pak."

I gave her my promise. We ended the phone conversation. But I could not go back to sleep, thinking about this matter and wondering how many more phone calls I would get from people like Wati, who have read my name and address in the magazine. I also wondered if Wati was telling me the truth or if it was a fake story.

Ten days after the phone call I received a letter from Wati. She has neat and clear handwriting. Attached to the letter were copies of her and her sister's identity cards. The content of the letter was the same as the story she told me on the phone. She added her resume and a brief description of her family background. Wati is 31 and a third child of six. Her mother sells jamu (traditional herbs) and incense.

After being laid off by his company, her husband left her to go back to his family in Sukabumi, West Java, and has stopped supporting his wife and daughter. To support the extended family, Wati and her sister borrowed money from a rentenir (loan shark), who lends money at a very high interest rate. Now the family is caught in a web of debt. Wati has worked at a number of factories and the last factory went bankrupt. The letter closes with "I hope you will listen to my cry for help." I immediately sent her my reply and sent her some funds to help her restart her profession as a tailor.

This cry for help indicates how bad the economic crisis has affected a certain group of people. They have lost their jobs, are unable to feed their families and are forced to stop their children's education. It is hard for people holding a high school diploma only, like Wati, to find employment in Indonesia. Thousands of people share Wati's problem.

Despite the indications that the economy is recovering, people like Wati will have to wait for years before they can enjoy a better living. Many economists and analysts predict the economic crisis affecting all important aspects of life like health, nutrition and education, will continue to go up and down for the coming few decades.

The phone call from Wati also shows another side of the problem faced by the country. It shows the dichotomy in society. To the rich, the present economic situation has merely forced them to change their lifestyles and made them worry about their savings in Indonesian banks. This group can still afford to continue traveling to Europe and America for a holiday or to go shopping or send their children to university.

A larger group of people, however, can barely stay alive, their health is deteriorating and their children's education is cut short. Many middle-class families are also suffering from this crisis and have been forced to sell their houses and other property.

At present, the number of people living below the poverty line has reached 49.5 million or 24.2 percent of the entire Indonesian population, according to Sugito Suwito, director of the Central Bureau of Statistics. The country's economy is still suffering. Although there are some indications of improvement, the economy has not reached sustainable recovery according to economist Soemitro in an interview with Republika daily (July 26, 1999).

In this situation people like Wati make an easy target to be persuaded to take hard, dangerous but low paid jobs. They can easily be persuaded to seek jobs overseas, legally or illegally, with the help of mediators who very often are crooks.

Many times we read and hear of horrifying stories about Indonesian men and women working in foreign countries. Recently the employer of a woman working in an Arab country poured acid on her. Other women commit suicide or are sentenced to death. Maltreatment is also found among workers in Malaysia and Singapore.

Despite these painful experiences, labor migration keeps flowing from Indonesia to six countries in the Middle East and to other countries. According to the Association of Labor Export Companies (Apjati) the number of labor migrants from Indonesia increased to 411,000 in 1998. Joining the labor migration are people from professional and skilled groups, such as pilots, technicians and health professionals. Nurses are sent not only to the Middle East but also to industrialized countries including Holland.

Indonesia is not the only country sending out its people for employment. Other countries in Asia do the same thing. The strong flow of workers reflects the problems of employment in the home country. As said by Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris, employment opportunities in Indonesia are becoming fewer and fewer.

One seeks employment overseas with the hope of getting a better salary than in his or her home country. This money can then be used to support the family back home, to send the children to school or to buy a piece of land. These motivations are humane and understandable. I respect this woman Wati for her courage and effort to find a job from such a long distance.

The writer is an economist and demographer residing in the Netherlands.