For Bawean people, pursuit of ringgit outweighs school

As part of efforts to improve their livelihood, many Bawean people have left to neighboring countries like Malaysia and Singapore in order to find work. The Jakarta Post's Indra Harsaputra recently went to Bawean and its surrounding islands, including Gili Island, in order to look into how the phenomenon has affected the lives of the people of Bawean.

"Our life is just to migrate to Malaysia to seek the ringgit," several residents on East Gili, a small island with around 650 inhabitants located about 30 kilometers from Bawean island, told The Jakarta Post in a food stall in Sigedung Batu village, Sangkapura district.

The stall owner, Jamalia, 30, said that most of the residents on Gili island had only finished elementary school. Little is to be expected from education because there are only two elementary schools on Gili.

Even if there was more emphasis, for those who want to continue their studies to a higher level must travel to Bawean island. However, the number is very small as they prefer to migrate to Malaysia in search of work as domestic servants or menial laborers upon reaching adulthood.

"We are less eager to continue to a higher level of education due to the distance it takes to reach schools in Bawean," said Jamalia, who formerly worked in a store selling clothes in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She now owns a stall selling light snacks.

Another resident, Zubaidah, 16, concurred, saying that education was not her main priority in life, because working in a foreign country has always been her hope. Zubaidah is now helping her mother out in a food stall and earns less than Rp 200,000 (US$20.00) per month.

"I will immediately become a migrant worker five years from now. Many people have been successful working in another country, earning more, rather than becoming a fisherman or working on Gili island," she told the Post on Friday.

Zubaidah has only completed elementary school. She initially intended to continue her studies, but her parents discouraged her from going far away from home just to pursue an education.

Zubaidah's father works in Malaysia and saves the equivalent of Rp 3 million per month. He sends home the money through the services of a tekong (messenger) in Malaysia to supplement the family's economic needs.

They use part of the money to buy gold jewelry as a way of saving, because they are still unfamiliar with banking services.

Many people on Gili island have migrated to Malaysia to work over the last 25 years. They prefer to become migrant workers rather than go to another place to pursue their education, thus Gili island is known as an "exporter" of Indonesian migrant workers (TKI).

The average minimum salary of migrant workers from Gili island is RM 600 per month (approximately equivalent to Rp 1.65 million). Most of the islanders have opted to become migrant workers due to the higher pay in Malaysia compared to working as a fisherman on Gili, and usually earning less than Rp 500,000 per month.

"Don't be surprised if the island has two telecommunications kiosks (wartel) used by residents to call their relatives in Malaysia," said Busai'ri, village chief of Sigedung Batu.

He said that even though the island is remote, many of its residents could afford to pay electric bills of up to Rp 500,000 per month.

Some of them own television sets, parabola antennas and refrigerators. However, they are less inclined to pursue education away from the island.

Busai'ri hopes the government can pay more attention to the education problem and build a high school and a junior high school.

"The availability of education would be able to enhance their knowledge, so they don't get easily duped by recruitment agents in Malaysia," said Busai'ri.

Head of the Sangkapura District Education and Culture branch office, Zulfa Usman, said that education had become the main problem on Bawean and Gili islands. Residents are less aware of the importance of education. Besides that, parents often have difficulties when registering their children for school due to the lack of birth certificates.

"Many of the children here were born in Malaysia, and when they register in school, they have to arrange for their birth certificates to be sent from Malaysia. It's inconceivable for them to go to Malaysia just to get their documents," said Zulfa.