No account of Indonesians seeking employment abroad

No account of Indonesians seeking employment abroad

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Ida Bagus Mantra, a senior researcher at the
University of Gadjah Mada's population studies center, said
recently that countless Indonesians have literally risked their
lives seeking jobs illegally abroad over the last two decades.

In a recent interview with The Jakarta Post, the lecturer at
the university's school of geography described the horror and
hardship Indonesians have to endure before they can reach, for
instance, the Malaysian shore to work on its plantations.

Upon approaching the shore of Malaysia, their brokers -- known
in Indonesian as calo or taikong -- often dump the prospective
workers hundreds of meters before the beach, for fear of being
spotted by local patrols. "Imagine them having to swim that
distance to the beach," he said.

One of the most dangerous routes that illegal workers often
choose is through the Malacca Strait. "This route is often dubbed
the `tomb of Indonesian workers' because so many people have died
there," Mantra said.

Another route to Malaysia saw the sinking of four boats during
1981 to 1983, killing a total of 109 people, he said. He did not
give any more recent data.

"Many illegal Indonesian workers fail to return home, but we
don't know how many because they're never registered," he said.

Indonesians work abroad either legally, through the Ministry
of Manpower, or illegally by abusing their staying permits in the
destination countries, or through "backdoor migration".

"The last venue is the really illegal way, and the workers are
usually brought to the destination countries by calo (through
dangerous routes)," said Mantra.

The danger, however, usually fails to deter workers from
continuing their attempt to seek employment abroad because
poverty at home leaves them with few alternatives.

"The source (of the problem) is poverty. There's no employment
opportunity at home. They feel hopeless," Mantra said.

"The chance to work overseas is the only hope for people from
critically poor regions such as Lombok, Flores, Bawean Island and
areas in East and West Java," he said.

"They usually want to go to Malaysia or Saudi Arabia as soon
as possible and at any cost," he said.

The government has targeted to net as much as US$12.5 billion
per year from the approximately 2.5 million Indonesians who work
abroad.

According to the Ministry of Manpower, as quoted recently by
the Ummat magazine, during the ongoing sixth Five-year
Development Plan, which ends next year, Indonesian workers abroad
have sent home $1.9 billion, or an increase of 55 percent ($1.2
billion) from those gained during the fifth Five-year Development
Plan which ended in 1993.

Glut

Since the start of the ongoing development plan up to Sept. 18
this year, Indonesia has sent a total of 924,168 workers -- 36
percent of them male workers. In the previous development plan
period, a total of 652,272 workers were sent with 32 percent of
them being male workers.

According to the latest figure from the ministry, legal
workers total 408,211 in Malaysia, 319,444 in Saudi Arabia,
86,209 in Singapore, 26,278 in South Korea, 19,630 in United Arab
Emirates and 225,567 in Taiwan.

Thousands of others work illegally in these countries.

In addition to poverty, a glut in the labor force at home also
helped force many Indonesians to seek jobs abroad. Mantra said in
1990, there were 73.9 million people in the labor force. By 1995,
the figure increased to 86.1 million.

"There's a prediction that the number will reach 98.9 million
people by 2000," he said.

Indonesians are also attracted to foreign work because of the
better salary offered in the receiving countries. In 1990, for
instance, workers in Lombok were paid Rp 500 to Rp 1,000 ($0.28)
per day, while workers in Malaysia were paid up to Rp 8,000.

Combat

Mantra called on the government to fight the brokers who
illegally send Indonesians abroad from further practicing their
inhumane business.

"This (their practice) has to be eradicated, even though it is
really difficult," he said. "I believe the manpower ministry,
though, is already informed on how these people work, and already
know about their network.

"These brokers have a network that is similar to those of the
mafia or cartels. It'd be very difficult to penetrate into their
network," he said. "Arresting one broker, for instance, does not
mean we can unravel their whole network."

Mantra suggested better monitoring of labor export companies,
the establishment of consular offices in labor-receiving
countries to protect Indonesians there, or even the establishment
of a separate ministry for migrant workers.

The Ministry of Manpower has recently become the target of
widespread criticism following the beheading of Indonesian
housemaid Soleha Anam Kadiran for murder in Saudi Arabia. Another
migrant worker in Saudi Arabia, Nasiroh Karmudin, escaped death
recently for a similar crime after the relatives of the victim
forgave her.

The government is also in the process of airlifting home
17,000 "problematic" Indonesians in Saudi Arabia -- some 10,000
of them were workers without proper documents -- using an armada
of planes from Garuda Indonesia and the Armed Forces.

The operation is costing the government up to $300 per person.
It is being funded by the state-owned workers insurance company
PT Jamsostek. (44/swe)