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.