Open letter to RI govt

Open letter to RI govt

Allow us to take this opportunity to provide you with the
political views of the Hong Kong Coalition of Indonesian Migrant
Workers (KOTKIHO) with regard to the new government resulting
from the public assembly of the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR) in July, 2001. As you may already know, Madam President
Megawati, by means of the letter we sent you earlier through the
Office of the Vice-President on June, 13, 2001, the number of
Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong has reached 60,000. More
than four million Indonesian citizens work overseas, and 80
percent of those are women. This figure is certain to increase in
view of rising unemployment in our dear country.

For 32 years, we lived in a fearful situation. We feared to
organize, speak, or to take democratic initiatives under the New
Order government's regime. Since the fall of the New Order, as a
result of the struggle of the youth movement, we have begun to
breathe a fresh air of freedom and independence. This wind of
democracy, however, seems to be little understood by our leaders
and the Indonesian people in general. The diplomatic war waged by
the ruling elite is always said to be "In the interests of the
people", in order to justify their own ends. They fail, however,
to solve the existing problems, social conflicts, unemployment
and violence towards women and children, which continue unabated
and are never overcome.

Madam President, being the fifth and only woman president of
the nation, our hopes and dreams, and those of our counterparts
in other countries -- young men and women who continue to defy
loneliness and abuses for the sake of their future and their
loved ones -- rest with you. We believe that you will lead our
nation into a direction of change meaningful for the people. We
believe that the terrible events that happened during 32 years of
Soeharto's rule will never be experienced again. There will be no
restrictions or threats to the basic freedom of the people to
speak out, organize and express opinions. We are sure of it
because during Soeharto's regime, you yourself, Madam President,
were a victim of the New Order.

In the name of human rights and democracy, we, the members and
organizers of The Hong Kong Coalition of Indonesian Migrant
Workers, request your government to:

1. Establish regulations for the protection of Indonesian migrant
workers.

2. Ratify the 1990 UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights
of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

3. Revoke the regulation of the Ministry of Manpower No.
204/Kep/men/1999, regarding the process of sending Indonesian
workers to other countries.

4. Revoke the ruling of the Indonesian Consulate dated Jan. 10,
2001, which requires Indonesian workers to extend their contracts
through an agency.

5. Eliminate corruption, collusion and nepotism, especially in
the process of sending Indonesian migrant workers abroad, and in
the life of the nation in general. This will require serious
investigation and reform of the sending agency system operating
in Indonesia.

6. Continue to uphold freedom of organization, union,
association, assembly, opinion, and expression in society so as
to enable the people to achieve their aspirations. A good first
step towards this would be to free the 12 young people still
being detained after their arrests in Bandung for their
legitimate protests against changes to the labor laws and
increasing fuel prices.

7. Create working opportunities for the people in their own
country.

8. Create national economic and political stability.

9. Refrain from using the military as a political force by
abolishing the its dual function.

SULASTRI

KOTKIHO Chairperson

Hong Kong