Defend migrant workers

Defend migrant workers

From Pelita

When the Singaporean government banned Muslim students from
wearing head scarves, Indonesia's Muslim activists and mass
organizations reacted strongly to this matter. They did likewise
when Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew accused our country
of being a den of terrorists.

Later, when Tamsil Linrung and his friends were arrested by
the Philippine government on the grounds of involvement in
international terrorism, Muslim activists, mass organizations and
political parties focused on his arrest.

Unfortunately, when a number of Indonesian migrant workers
were abused by their employers in Singapore, no defense of their
cases was heard, as if the issues were commonplace. In my
opinion, however, this case has humiliated us as a country.

Republika in its March 20 issue carried a photo on its front
page portraying the cruelty of Singaporean Jennicia Chow, who had
tortured Kusmirah, 19. Previously, the same daily, in its March 6
issue, reported that a Singaporean woman had bitten off the
nipple of a migrant Indonesian woman worker.

Apparently, Muslim activists, mass organizations and political
parties as well as those keen on upholding Islamic law, are more
interested in dealing with political issues such as Muslim head
scarves, the Jakarta Charter, international terrorism and the
like.

House of Representatives members like A.M. Fatwa and
Soemargono also tend to be concerned with rich people like Tamsil
Linrung, and not with the poor such as Indonesian migrant workers
who have been mistreated by their employers abroad. Their act is
therefore comparable with that of the people's representatives
from secular parties like the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Golkar and the Indonesian Awakening
Party (PKB), which take care of the affairs of the rich only.

More ridiculously, the Indonesian Muslim Workers Brotherhood
(PPMI), led by Eggy Sudjana, is more frequently plays a role in
the political arena. PPMI has hardly ever been heard to defend
the interests of workers, including Indonesian migrant workers
subjected to abuses and torture abroad, such as in Singapore,
South Korea, etc.

AMIR WIJAYA

Jakarta