JP/2/A02

JP/2/A02

JAKARTA (JP): The receent death of a woman migrant worker upon
her arrival at the Soekarno Hatta International Airport has
prompted calls for the government to close the special gate at
Terminal III for migrant workers.

Labor activists have complained that the special gate for
migrant workers at Terminal III failed to provide immediate
health service for the workers after their long journey. Worse,
the area is rampant with touts and extortionists.

"Close the special gate at Terminal III of Soekarno Hatta
International Airport as it has proven dangerous to Indonesian
migrant workers," Wahyu Susilo of the Indonesian Consortium of
Advocacy for Migrant Workers said.

Wahyu believes the government, the airport's management, the
labor export agency and the airline concerned should be held
responsible for such incidents.

"The minister of manpower and transmigration, the labor
agency, the respective Indonesian Embassies abroad and the
airport management should the medical report of each worker,
especially those who were facing health problems abroad, he said.

Amah Suamah, 31, arrived from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on
Pakistan Airlines on Thursday. She was sent home by her employer
less than one month after starting to work as a housemaid.

She was found dead on her wheelchair in the queue at the
airport immigration. There were no bruises on her body, and
police are still awaiting the forensic report on the cause of her
death.

The agency which sent her abroad, PT Sapta Saguna, claimed
Amah, who was from Majalengka, West Java, was healthy when she
departed on June 2.

"This incident shows that the airport management has not
fulfilled its obligation of providing good service to homecoming
migrant workers," Wahyu told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Moreover, the health clinic at the special gate is not
functioning.

"There are no doctors or paramedics there. There is also no
crisis center for workers who have been sent home or had to flee
because of problems with their employers," he added.

A volunteer from Solidaritas Perempuan at the terminal,
Endang, called for a thorough investigation into Amah's death.
She suspected Amah was sent home by her employer because she was
sick.

"But I cannot understand ... how was it that she was sent
overseas if she had been sick? The company which sent her is the
most responsible in this case," she told the Post.

Head of the labor division of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute
(LBH Jakarta) Rita Olivia, urged the government and the House of
Representatives to enact a law for the protection of migrant
workers. The government calls them 'foreign-exchange heroes',
ironically, they often face sexual abuse in their workplace and
extortion at the airport when they return home, she said.

"A law is also needed to prevent migrant workers from being
exploited as they are valuable commodity to provinces to meet
their financial targets. The regional administrations are now
drafting their own regulations on debarkation and the placement
of the workers," she said in an interview.(bby)