'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.