Minister urges stop to extortion of workers

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea expressed his concern on Friday about the fact that migrant workers had become cash cows for all parties involved in sending workers abroad.

The outspoken minister said that extortion was so rampant it was difficult now to find someone who was not involved.

"Everybody commits extortion. These offenses are committed from the top to the bottom," Jacob said in an address he delivered to members of the Indonesian Union of Sailors (KPI) at the North Jakarta Sports Hall to mark the organization's anniversary .

Also present at the ceremony was Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar.

This was not the first time that Jacob had lashed out at such practices, but, as always, he fell short of announcing punitive measures against the extorters.

He said many migrant workers, mostly domestic workers, were subject to extortion from the time they were recruited until the time they completed their contracts and returned home.

"This situation is lamentable because they leave their families to go abroad to make some money but end up becoming fair game for everybody," said Jacob, who also chairs the Confederation of Indonesian Labor Unions.

Calling for an end to such abuses, Jacob said he was considering breakthrough measures to combat extortion.

Separately, the Yogyakarta-based Center for Demographic and Policy Studies revealed that a recent survey it had conducted had found that most Indonesian migrant workers knew little about their countries of destination.

"They are in the dark about the countries they will be placed in. The desire to seek jobs abroad has made them blind to the price they may have to pay," chief researcher Faturochman said on Friday.

He added that there was no guarantee legal migrant workers would reach their destinations unhindered, while illegal workers often risked being drowned when their unseaworthy boats sank, or being caught by border guards.