Activists urge more support for female migrant workers

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Rights and labor activists urged the government and the public at large on Wednesday to pay more attention to the plight of female migrant workers, including five housemaids currently facing possible death sentences in neighboring Singapore.

"We must defend our female migrant workers. They contribute a lot of earnings to the state, so the state should protect them," said Yanti Mochtar of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) in a discussion in conjunction with Kartini Day on Wednesday.

Kartini Day, which falls on April 21, is the birthday of national heroine R.A. Kartini, who quietly fought for gender equality in the 19th century.

Yanti regretted the poor service from the government, mainly the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Indonesian migrant workers.

Government officials should realize that they were paid by the state budget, which includes foreign debt, taxes and income from migrant worker remittances, Yanti said.

"Not only are there legal problems; migrant workers, mostly women, also experience sexual abuse. So far, the government has paid little attention to Indonesian workers overseas," she said.

More than half of around 1.3 million Indonesian migrant workers overseas, including in Singapore, are women, who often suffer abuse by their employers and extortion by Indonesian officials.

The five Indonesian workers currently facing possible death sentences in Singapore are identified as Sudarti Supriyanto, Purwanti Parji, Sumiyati Karyo, Juminem and Siti Aminah. They have been charged with murder, with the maximum sentence of death.

Migrant worker Nining, who has worked as a housemaid in Singapore for seven years, claimed on Wednesday that Indonesian migrant workers had more adverse experiences than housemaids from other countries, such as the Philippines, due to poor skills and lack of attention from the government.

"Most of us do not read our contracts, so our employers can ask us to do whatever they want," said Nining, who is also an activist of Indo Family, a non-governmental organization in Singapore that helps Indonesian migrant workers.

She revealed that 98 female workers had died after falling from windows of their employers' apartments since 1999 although cleaning the windows -- as ordered by their employers -- was not allowed under the regulation.

About 70 percent of 1.3 million Indonesian migrant workers are women, mostly working in Middle Eastern countries, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong as housemaids.

Most of the female migrant workers are underage and have fake identity documentation in order to go to work. Most become the only breadwinner for their poor families back home.

Meanwhile, Wahyu Susilo, chairman of Migrant Care, urged the Singapore government to lighten their sentences if they were found guilty, due to adverse experiences suffered by the workers at the hands of their employers.

"The Singapore government must take into account the circumstances, including physical abuse, before the crime occurred. They do not deserve the death sentence," Wahyu said in the discussion.

Syahwin Adenan, Director for Citizen Protection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, revealed that the government has provided lawyers for the five migrant workers, saying it could not interfere in the legal process.