Migrant workers need more govt protection

Migrant workers need more govt protection

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Representatives of Indonesian workers in the Middle East and
Malaysia called on the House of Representatives on Monday to
pass the bill on workers' protection and ensure embassies offered
effective help to abused Indonesians.

The National Network of Indonesian Migrant Workers said at a
hearing with House Commission VII that in countries where
Indonesians were regularly abused, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan,
and Malaysia, Indonesian diplomats failed to provide adequate
help.

"I had a problem with my employer in Malaysia and reported it
to the general consul, but the staff there said that I only
disrupted his job and increased his burden," network
representative Edi said.

The House is currently deliberating a bill on migrant workers'
protection.

Edi said in most cases embassy staff members did not want to
help, and sometimes worsened the situation.

"Some of my friends who had troubles with their employers
turned to the Indonesian Embassy for help, but instead of
settling the disputes, the embassy colluded with local private-
run worker agencies to channel them to other jobs," said Atikah,
a former migrant worker in Saudi Arabia.

She believed the embassy took such a measure so as to cover
the return fares of the Indonesian workers.

The network urged the government to place more professional
diplomats with a broader knowledge of worker issues and rights in
the embassies.

"They (the diplomats) have to be more active in defending the
rights of our workers overseas, and must not think of their duty
as traveling aboard to have fun."

Legislator Carda Muchtar defended the government position,
saying it was the lack of experts on migrant rights in Indonesian
embassies that was the main cause of the problems.

"At present, only Indonesian embassies in Saudi Arabia,
Hong Kong, and South Korea have manpower attaches to tackle the
problems," he said, adding the commission for manpower and
transmigration had proposed the government establish manpower
attaches in a number of countries where there were a significant
number of Indonesian laborers.

The network said the workers helped contribute to the
country's foreign exchange earnings and, therefore, it was high
time for the government to set up more manpower attaches in
foreign embassies to help the workers.

"The government has to defend the workers' cause as they are
prone to receiving harsh treatment during their employment,"
Wahyu Susilo from the Consortium for Indonesian Migrant Workers
Advocacy said in a meeting aimed at promoting the bill on migrant
workers' protection.

There are over 1.2 million Indonesian workers working
overseas. mostly in the Middle East countries.

The government was widely blamed for lacking anticipatory
measures that resulted in the expulsion of over 300,000
undocumented Indonesian migrant workers from Malaysia following a
new immigration act imposed by the country in August.