Migrant workers' airport nightmare

Migrant workers holding Indonesian passports still experience nightmares as they are "welcomed" home at Soekarno-Hatta in Jakarta and pass through dreaded Terminal 3.

A woman migrant worker, originally from Lampung, who had been dismissed by her employer overseas for no apparent reason, flew from Hong Kong to Jakarta on Feb. 28. At the airport she was overcome by the trauma of her previous return from Singapore, when she had to pay Rp 1 million to unscrupulous government officials at Terminal 3, ostensibly "for the cost of travel to Lampung."

After an immigration check, she took her baggage and headed for the exit. Some officers asked to see her passport, but she refused to show them. They forced her to go through Terminal 3 despite her explanation that she was going home to Lampung.

At least six men including manpower ministry personnel insisted that she enter Terminal 3, and finally she had no choice but to follow them. The question is whether this republic's Constitution discriminates against citizens with a certain occupation. Is such discrimination not a violation of people's basic rights?

Are the manpower ministry and the airport management authorized to force migrant workers to pass a certain terminal instead of protecting their rights to use any terminal? Is the argument to safeguard workers' home-bound travel acceptable, while the restriction of their freedom is a transgression?

I was embarrassed when foreign participants of a human rights training course witnessed how the same discrimination took place in Terminal 3 just a few months ago. Their letters of concern addressed to the manpower ministry, the foreign affairs ministry and the police have had no response.

CARLA JUNE NATAN, Jakarta