Most Indonesian workers in Hong Kong underpaid

Blontank, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Semarang

Around 80 percent of the 70,000 Indonesian workers employed as domestic helpers in Hong Kong in reality receive around HK$ 2,400 per month, which is far below the minimum monthly wage in the Chinese autonomous territory, according to a government official.

Indrawan Solaeman, an specialist advisor in the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, said upon his arrival home from Hong Kong that he had obtained the information from Indonesia's Consulate General and many Indonesian workers employed in Hong Kong.

"Many workers have complained to the Consulate General about cuts in their monthly salary by recruitment agencies in Hong Kong, but no action has ever been taken," he said, adding that he also received complaints from workers enjoying their days off at Victoria Park in Hong Kong.

The minimum wage in Hong Kong is set at $3,670 per month.

Indrawan said that payment of the minimum wage was also stipulated in the employment contracts between workers and their employers, but the trouble was the workers received their salaries from the recruitment agencies that had supplied them to their respective employers.

He said that staff in the Indonesian Consulate General and Indonesian labor exporting companies were allegedly involved in the salary cuts as all contracts were signed by the labor exporters with certification being provided by the Consulate General's staff.

Saleh Alwaini, the president of PT Binawan, a company that supplies unskilled workers to Hong Kong, blamed the Consulate General for the workers' salary cuts because, besides having copies of the labor contracts, the Consulate General was responsible for resolving such labor problems.

"The Consulate General's staff handling labor problems have their own interests in seeing more workers employed in Hong Kong as they receive fees for the recruitment of Indonesian workers here," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Separately, Minister on Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said during a visit to Semarang on Friday that he would leave for Hong Kong to look into the cutting of Indonesian workers' salaries.

"This is very embarrassing, and I will ask foreign minister Hasan Wirayuda to take strict measures against any staff of the Consulate General who are found guilty of labor extortion," he said.

The minister said that besides imposing strict measures, he would also ask the foreign minister to assign labor attaches in foreign countries employing Indonesian workers to help resolve labor problems.

He said he had decided to revoke the licenses of 12 labor exporters who were found to have violated labor export regulations. Several of these companies were involved in the cutting of workers' salaries.

He declined to identify the 12 labor exporters.

Nuwa Wea said his office would strictly enforce the new ministerial decree on labor exports to avoid labor extortion and provide legal protection for Indonesian workers overseas.

"The new decree gives authority to the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration to send unskilled workers overseas to avoid labor extortion, and it also sets stricter requirements for labor exports and threatens stiffer sanctions against errant labor exporters," he said.