Migrant workers abuse on the rise

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam

Lured by promises of a high salary and better working conditions, Oneng left her hometown in the West Java town of Cianjur to work as a maid in Malaysia with high hopes.

But these hopes were soon dashed. After working in Johor Bahru for just a month, the 35-year-old ended up in the Batam City's welfare office on Tuesday, lying helplessly in a worn-out bed, injured and poor.

She was sent back home by the Consulate General's office in Johor Bahru along with five other Indonesian migrant workers after her employer callously abandoned her on the road. Oneng suffered pelvic injuries after she fell to the ground from the second-floor apartment where she worked.

"After learning that I fell and could not walk normally, my employer left me at an intersection in Johor Bahru. I could only cry there until a person took me to the Consulate General's office in Johor," she told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Oneng was originally sent to Johor Bahru from Batam through a manpower agent to work as a maid with a set salary of RM 450 per month. But she never got paid.

"I had just arrived and started work in Malaysia but then I suffered this misfortune. I have no money to bring back home while my stomach is in great pain ... I just want to go home," Oneng said in tears.

Doctors say the woman has injuries to her rib that will take weeks to heal.

Of the five other workers sent back to Batam by the Consulate General with Oneng, all complained being unpaid and abused by their employees.

Hasana, a 27-year-old native of East Java town of Jember, claimed she left Malaysia after being prohibited from praying. "My prayer clothes were thrown away by my employer who did not allow me to pray. I couldn't take it, so I went to a police station. The police then took me to the Consulate General," she said.

Batam City Social Services Office social insurance and assistance division head Zulfikar Idham said an increasing number of Indonesian migrant workers in difficulty were using the help of the service to return to Batam.

Last year, the office received 175 Indonesian migrant workers, while until September this year it had already accommodated 222 workers, mostly women, Zulfikar said.

"The number of troubled workers who are being sent back by the Consulate General keeps on increasing in number, while the city administration only sets aside a limited budget to deal with the problem. We need the central government's attention to help deal with this matter," he said.

The city's budget was only enough assist about 100 workers a year, with each person receiving a maximum of Rp 400,000 in aid.

"We accommodate them for three to four days, then we send them back to their home cities. If there are those who are mentally ill, we'll send them to a mental hospital in Pekanbaru. So far we've sent two mentally ill workers there. But the budget is very limited, forcing our superior to allocate more funds from other areas to help deal with the workers' problems," Zulfikar said.

Even if the office can help send the maids home, it can do little to pursue legal recourse in Malaysia to get justice for people like Oneng. Malaysian law gives little protection to overseas migrant workers.

Some 100,000 Indonesian maids reportedly work in Malaysia, receiving a salary of around US$100 a month and many are forced to work long hours with little protection from labor laws.

International rights watchdog Human Rights Watch warned earlier this year that foreign maids in Malaysia were prey to physical, psychological and sexual abuse because of flawed government policies. The New York-based group called on the Malaysian government to give the country's 240,000 domestic workers -- more than 90 percent of them from Indonesia -- the same legal protections as other employees.

It said Indonesian maids typically work grueling 16 to 18 hour days, without even a day off.