Nursafinah struggles for the migrant worker's welfare

Nursafinah struggles for the migrant worker's welfare

Syaiful Amin, Contributor, Banyumas, Central Java

Nursafinah is just another ordinary woman. But for those who are
not familiar with her, she is a housemaid turned entrepreneur.

She was born 30 years ago in Karangsalam village of Kemranjen
district in Banyumas regency in Central Java. Her parents are
farmers who own a plot of land that measures no more than 50
square meters.

Nursafinah is the second of six siblings. She managed to
finish junior high school and enroll in a senior high school but
dropped out a few years later.

She opted to find a job to support her family.

"Of course, I wish I could continue my education. But I have
four younger brothers and sisters and they also needed money to
go to school," she said.

However, she did not work far from home. Sometimes she went to
the rice fields to help her parents. She also did routine
household chores like cooking and cleaning the house.

In 1994, her friend offered her to work overseas, a proposal
that was hard to turn down, and would change her fate forever.

So she was determined to try her luck. Nursafinah went to work
as a housemaid in Singapore, a country that in her wildest
imaginations she never thought she would visit.

She was promised to receive a monthly salary of S$225 (Rp. 1.1
million). However, seven months after her arrival, she had never
been able to send money back to her parents in Indonesia.

Her employment agent had taken all her salary during this
period, claiming that the money was to compensate for the visa
and passport application fees and the airline ticket to bring her
to Singapore.

She faced this reality without resistance.

Meanwhile, Nursafinah often met other housemaids from
Indonesia and exchanged stories on various issues ranging from
their treatment by their employers, their wages to their
boyfriends.

"I learned a lot. I found out that in Singapore, there were
many migrant workers who were ill-treated their employees. As for
myself, I was quite lucky to have a nice employer," she said.

When her two-year contract was over, Nursafinah went back home
and planned to work in Hong Kong.

"My friends told me that the working atmosphere in Hong Kong
was better and the government treated us more fairly," she said.

She arrived in Hong Kong early in 1997. Her new employer, Wu
Kwok-we, was a married construction worker with two children.

"I was amazed. He was only a construction worker but he could
afford to pay me," she said.

Nursafinah worked six days a week. She took time off every
Sunday and hung out with her friends, fellow migrant workers.

"There are at least 75,000 female migrant workers from
Indonesia who work in the nonformal sector like domestic maids,"
she remarked.

Gradually she learned that there was an organization of
Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong. But its activities were
limited. Yet she was committed to the organization.

"In several meetings, we agreed to change the name of the
association and make it a formal organization with statutes and
rules. It was later registered with the government. Well, it was
the Hong Kong government," she said.

In 1999, the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union was set up, due
to requests from the migrant workers.

The workers wished there was any individual or organization
that could provide legal advocacy for them, empower them in legal
matters and negotiate with both the Hong Kong and Indonesian
governments should disputes occurred.

"At that time, there were about 2,000 members from all over of
Indonesia, like Kalimantan, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Java -- West
Java, East Java, Central Java and Yogyakarta," said Nursafinah,
who was later appointed chairwoman.

Even though all of the members are housemaids, IMWU is
designed as a professional organization with a line of
executives.

The members also rented a house in Mongkok and made it IMWU's
headquarters. All members are obliged to contribute a monthly
membership fee, but the amount depends on their financial
ability.

Nursafinah's salary had risen to HK$2,750 (more than Rp 2.75
million), which is quite a lot when compared to the amount of
monthly salary of housemaids working in Indonesia, which ranges
between Rp 300,000 and Rp 800,000.

However, though migrant workers generate much foreign
exchange, the government of Indonesia pays little attention to
them.

"The government of Indonesia never thinks about us. They even
turn a blind eye towards the unfair treatment that we experience.
Who will help and protect us if not ourselves?" she said. "They
also don't care about our wellbeing after we return to the
country."

Nursafinah started to ponder on the future of migrant workers
-- including hers -- after the working contracts were over. She
held discussions with her colleagues, who enthusiastically
responded with fresh ideas.

The main idea is to invest the money as a form of savings. To
implement this plan, they started collecting money to be used as
capital, and established a company in Indonesia.

She said there were 32 migrant workers from East Java, Central
Java and Yogyakarta, who had agreed to chip in Rp 5 million as
capital. They managed to accumulate around Rp 160 million, and
deposit it in a bank.

In 2001, Nursafinah returned to Indonesia. She stayed in this
country but continued to communicate with her friends in Hong
Kong.

Earlier in 2003, with the consent of all the fellow
housemaids-cum-investors, she established a cattle breeding
company called CV Bumi Mandiri.

The word "Bumi" in English actually means earth, but in this
case, it stands for "BUruh MIgran" or migrant workers, while
"Mandiri" is independent.

The company started operating on July 4 in Karang Nanas
village, Sokaraja district of Banyumas, with Nursafinah as the
manager.

For the first phase, she has bought 20 cows and hired two men
to feed and take care of the cattle.

Despite all these efforts to promote the migrant worker's
welfare, she is still expecting the government's support to
change the lives of the migrant workers.

"We still hope that the government would pay attention to
migrant workers; We don't want to be housemaids for life,"
Nursafinah said.