Migrant workers abuse on the rise

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.