'Govt only acts after an incident'

'Govt only acts after an incident'

The government has been criticized for its inability to protect
migrant workers from mistreatment by their employers overseas.
Critics point out that these workers send billions of rupiah back
to Indonesia. The Jakarta Post spoke with a number of people
about the issue.

Ryan, 28, is a street artist in South Jakarta. He lives in
Petukangan, South Jakarta, with his wife and son:

I thank God for making me a man because from my experience
working overseas, many female migrant workers suffer harsh
mistreatment by their employers.

I was lucky to have a nice employer who hired me to do
drawings of visitors to his restaurant in South Korea. Working
for him for one and a half years, I was never treated badly.

But during my stay in Korea, I found many fellow female
workers moonlighted as prostitutes to make extra money. For them,
their monthly salaries as housemaids were not enough.

This kind of this has tarnished the image of Indonesian
migrant workers and has misled employers in other countries. They
think that Indonesian workers can be treated as prostitutes.

However, that's wrong. Not all workers can be treated like
that. And the impact is many innocent housemaids suffer from
mistreatment and sexual abuse.

The worker recruitment agencies here are also to be blamed
because they often cheat people looking for jobs.

I was planning to return to South Korea and they told me I had
to pay Rp 2 million (US$235.30) for the paperwork. They tried to
cheat me, so I canceled my plan. I won't work overseas again as
long as the agencies act like the mafia.

Budi, 32, works at a finance company in South Jakarta. He
lives in Kalimalang, East Jakarta, with his wife and two
children:

It is actually an old story but it has been going on for
years. As long as we keep sending unskilled workers overseas, our
government will always face the same problem. Due to their lack
of skills, our migrant workers tend to be treated harshly. It
does not matter where the workers go.

The government has failed to do anything about the problem. It
only acts after there is an incident.

The government should keep in mind that the workers contribute
a huge amount of foreign exchange to the country. It is
impossible that the government doesn't have the money to protect
the workers; it only needs the political will.

The worker recruitment agencies must also be blamed for
colluding with corrupt officials from the government. The
agencies usually do not report or give false reports to the
government on the number of workers they are sending overseas.
They do that because they want to avoid illegal fees demanded by
those corrupt officials.

Sometimes, the agencies send migrant workers overseas without
the proper documents.

Only a transparent system can minimize the number of incidents
involving our migrant workers.

Maksum, 38, is a vendor in Cengkareng, West Jakarta. She lives
nearby with her husband and three children:

I have a brother-in-law who works as a migrant worker. He is
currently working on a fishing boat in Mexico on a two-year
contract. I never worry about him.

In fact, I support him because his work is legal and more
importantly he can earn more money than at home.

I think male migrant workers are less vulnerable than women.
Many Indonesian female migrant workers suffer from violence in
Middle Eastern countries.

As for the worker recruitment agencies, I know nothing about
them. My brother-in-law never complains. Maybe there are some
agencies involved in fraudulent practices.

-- Leo Wahyudi S.