Poor treatment of migrant workers takes its toll

JAKARTA (JP): The recent death of a woman migrant worker upon her arrival at the Soekarno Hatta International Airport has prompted calls for the government to close the special gate at Terminal III for migrant workers.

Labor activists have complained that the special gate for migrant workers at Terminal III failed to provide immediate health service for the workers after their long journey. Worse, the area is rampant with touts and extortionists.

"Close the special gate at Terminal III of Soekarno Hatta International Airport as it has proven dangerous to Indonesian migrant workers," Wahyu Susilo of the Indonesian Consortium of Advocacy for Migrant Workers said.

Wahyu believes the government, the airport's management, the labor export agency and the airline concerned should be held responsible for such incidents.

"The minister of manpower and transmigration, the labor agency, the respective Indonesian Embassies abroad and the airport management should the medical report of each worker, especially those who were facing health problems abroad, he said.

Amah Suamah, 31, arrived from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Pakistan Airlines on Thursday. She was sent home by her employer less than one month after starting to work as a housemaid.

She was found dead on her wheelchair in the queue at the airport immigration. There were no bruises on her body, and police are still awaiting the forensic report on the cause of her death.

The agency which sent her abroad, PT Sapta Saguna, claimed Amah, who was from Majalengka, West Java, was healthy when she departed on June 2.

"This incident shows that the airport management has not fulfilled its obligation of providing good service to homecoming migrant workers," Wahyu told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Moreover, the health clinic at the special gate is not functioning.

"There are no doctors or paramedics there. There is also no crisis center for workers who have been sent home or had to flee because of problems with their employers," he added.

A volunteer from Solidaritas Perempuan at the terminal, Endang, called for a thorough investigation into Amah's death. She suspected Amah was sent home by her employer because she was sick.

"But I cannot understand ... how was it that she was sent overseas if she had been sick? The company which sent her is the most responsible in this case," she told the Post.

Head of the labor division of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) Rita Olivia, urged the government and the House of Representatives to enact a law for the protection of migrant workers. The government calls them 'foreign-exchange heroes', ironically, they often face sexual abuse in their workplace and extortion at the airport when they return home, she said.

"A law is also needed to prevent migrant workers from being exploited as they are valuable commodity to provinces to meet their financial targets. The regional administrations are now drafting their own regulations on debarkation and the placement of the workers," she said in an interview.(bby)