Little holiday cheer for Indonesian workers in HK
Little holiday cheer for Indonesian workers in HK
By Sari Sartika Natley
HONG KONG (JP): In late December, Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok
Airport was mobbed by Filipino domestic workers. They dragged
luggage full of gifts and presents for their families.
They were going home for Christmas.
It was not the same for their Indonesian counterparts a couple
of weeks later. This year, like in the past, Lebaran was a low-
key event in Hong Kong. Idul Fitri is not a public holiday and
its celebration is virtually unknown in this Confucian society.
The only Lebaran rite for these overseas Indonesians was the
Shalat Ied prayer on the morning of Jan. 19, held by the
Indonesian Consulate General. They returned home later, not to
their beloved families and relatives, but to cook, clean and do
other household chores. It was business as usual.
Many domestic helpers chose to celebrate on the Sunday after
Idul Fitri. Victoria Park, a favorite hangout for Indonesian
domestic workers, was more crowded than usual on Jan. 24. About
4,000 young women turned out to picnic, exchange photos and
gossip. Friends greeted each other with the traditional Minal
aidzin wal faizin (I beg your forgiveness if I erred in the
past).
In the middle of the field, a dozen migrant workers chose not
to forget the traditional way of marking Lebaran. They donned
headscarves, read the Koran and recited prayers.
Aside from this small group, most of the people in the park
seemed to be oblivious to the religious aspects of Idul Fitri.
Many women danced the afternoon away with dangdut or techno
music.
Indeed, the true meaning of the festivities had been lost
since Ramadhan.
"I didn't even fast," Tumini, 35, admitted. "My boss was
afraid I would have fallen sick if I had not eaten."
Some could not hide their homesickness. Rani (not her real
name) said: "I cried when I called home and heard my family
breaking the fast."
Being a good mother, Tumini usually sends money to her two
children in East Java. But she said she did not send anything
more for Lebaran. Living in Hong Kong was expensive enough for
her, and her wage barely covers her expenses.
Nevertheless, every two months she manages to send HK$3000 (Rp
3.6 million) home. That is her one month wage, which is below the
stipulated minimum of HK$3,860 (Rp 4.6 million rupiah).
In early 1997, when The Jakarta Post published a story on
Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong, low wages were a
rampant problem for them. Two years later, things have not
changed much. Bien Venido, the organizing and education
coordinator of the Asian Migrant Center, said: "According to
statistics, Indonesians have the most cases of underpayment,
while they are the second biggest."
Today the migrant workers are facing more problems and
uncertainties. Once an economic miracle and business haven, Hong
Kong is set to endure a tough year. Many companies have cut
salaries and slashed their workforce. Unemployment has reached
5.8 percent, the highest since the government began tracking the
figures in 1983.
Amid the economic gloom, local politician Jennifer Chow Kit-
bing proposed last September a 20 percent cut in domestic
helpers' minimum wage.
It caused an uproar among the domestic helpers, most notably
from the better organized Filipinos. Their unions arranged
several rallies to oppose wage cuts.
The education and manpower department is still reviewing the
fate of the minimum wage, either to cut or freeze it. In reality,
however, employers have already started to cut wages, especially
for Indonesian maids.
"Employers will think twice about giving full minimum wages,"
said Tumini. Rani agreed. She said the most affected ones were
the newcomers and those renewing contracts.
At the end of 1998, there were about 31,800 Indonesians
working as domestic helpers in Hong Kong, a 30 percent increase
from 1997 (see table below).
Filipinos, who constitute the biggest domestic helpers'
workforce, only experienced a 1.7 percent increase, from 138,100
in December 1997 to 140,400 in 1998.
"Indonesians are the fastest growing (group)," Venido
acknowledged. Unfortunately, they are also the weakest and the
least protected of all.
Few of them receive the standard minimum wage. Some even
receive as little as HK$1,800 (Rp 2.2 million) or HK$2,000 (Rp
2.4 million rupiah). Although these amounts are much higher than
comparable monthly wages in Indonesia, ranging from Rp 100,000 to
Rp 200,000, cost of living in Hong Kong is considerably higher.
Recently, the Hong Kong government cracked down on seven
recruitment agencies suspected of violating the law. They were
accused of charging exorbitant fees to Indonesian maids and
offering them to employers at nearly half of the legal minimum
wage. Thirty-nine people were questioned.
However, the crackdown is still far from solving the problem
of abuses. The reason why Indonesians are, and have always been,
mistreated, workers and activists allege, is collusion between
the consulate general and the agencies. To renew contracts, for
example, the workers need to present the consulate general's
stamp to Hong Kong's immigration department.
To obtain the consulate's stamp, strangely enough, the workers
need to get their employment agency's stamp, even though workers
from the Philippines, Thailand and Sri Lanka do not face the same
requirement.
On top of this bureaucratic tape, the workers have to pay the
agencies HK$8,000, and their employers have to fork out HK$5,000.
These are not the only costs the domestic workers have to dig
from their pockets. Agencies usually hold domestic workers'
passports, a practice illegal under Hong Kong law but apparently
given the blessing of the Indonesian Consulate General.
If the workers need to "borrow" their passports, they must pay
HK$300. To claim their passports back, the "settlement fee" is
HK$3,000.
In the recent crackdown on recruitment agencies, the
immigration department also confiscated 2,909 Indonesian
passports. They will be returned to the owners.
It was a few days before Lebaran when several domestic
workers heard about the news. They cheered, laughed and nodded
their heads happily. It was an early, or perhaps the only, gift
amid this pessimistic festive season.