Migrant workers demand legal protection overseas

Migrant workers demand legal protection overseas

Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara

The ongoing Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) labor
senior official meeting was disrupted on Wednesday when 500
former migrant workers and labor activists from 12 non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) demanded regional governments
to provide legal protection for workers, especially those
employed in Singapore and Malaysia.

Under tight escort from two companies of riot squad personnel,
the protesters, who lashed out at the exploitation of Indonesian
workers overseas, marched for two kilometers from the West Lombok
legislature building to the hotel where ASEAN delegations
gathered for the meeting.

The meeting will be followed by the ASEAN labor ministerial
meeting, which will discuss a joint program to improve labor
conditions and cope with labor-related issues in the region.

The protesters, mostly from Sumbawa, held a free speech forum
in front of the hotel after police blocked their entry to the
meeting venue.

Rally coordinator Endang Susilawati regretted the tight
security cordon.

"At least the Indonesian delegation should listen to our
aspirations. We are not being unruly -- we want to share our bad
experiences during our employment overseas," she said.

West Nusa Tenggara obtains Rp 1 billion a day in foreign
exchange from about 69,000 workers employed as domestic helpers
and those in the manufacturing and construction sectors in
Malaysia and Singapore.

Endang, who was employed as a domestic helper in Malaysia
several years ago, said almost all workers working in Malaysia
and Singapore were inadequately protected, which has resulted in
many of them being tortured, arbitrarily dismissed or underpaid
and this has sparked a flow of illegal workers.

"The government should not only enjoy the remittances from
workers abroad but also take necessary action to provide legal
protection for them in an effort to avoid the tragic incidents
that have befallen four Indonesian workers whose remains were
sent back to the province several years ago and the routine
torture of several Indonesian workers in Malaysia and Singapore,"
she said.

Abdurrahhim, another protester, strongly urged the government
to impose tight measures in the labor export procedure and make a
prolabor export policy to curb the rampant extortion of
Indonesian workers sent overseas.

"The government should pass a strict law that prevents job
seekers from entering other countries illegally and prevents both
government officials and labor exporters from abusing job seekers
and returning workers," he said.

He said it was impossible for Indonesia to lobby other
countries to employ its workers unless it enacted certain ILO
conventions to legally protect migrant workers.

Meeting chairman Edison Situmorang appreciated the peaceful
demonstration but said the protesters' aspirations would not be
officially accepted to avoid disturbing the meeting between SLOM
delegations and ASEAN's dialog partners South Korea, Japan and
China.

Edison, who is also an expert staff member at the Ministry of
Manpower and Transmigration, said that the government did not
have a strong enough will to tackle the labor export issue as
seriously as the Philippine government.

"The labor export issue should be handled properly, integrally
and cautiously because it's very strategic to help cope with the
unemployment problem at home and improve people's social
welfare," he said.