Poverty forces NTB people to work overseas

Poverty forces NTB people to work overseas

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara

This is the first of a series of articles on Nusa Tenggara Barat
villagers employed overseas. Following the steady stream of
workers returning home with stories of the abuses that they
suffered abroad, our reporter Ridwan Sijabat visited the province
last month and talked with some of the villagers about their
experiences.

The Indonesian word "jago" means champion. In a sense the village
of Jago here in Mataram and other villages in the vicinity are
champion labor exporters.

West Nusa Tenggara will send 350,000 people abroad this year,
netting the province Rp 230 billion (US$27 million) in foreign
exchange.

Larauh, a mother of seven, is proud her five sons have been
able to find work overseas despite their low levels of education.
She said she had Rp 40 million in the bank thanks to her sons,
who have sent her money regularly over the last two years.

Many of the workers from the province work on plantations or
construction sites in Malaysia, or as domestic helpers in the
Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia.

"From April to November, land owners abandon their farms
because of the dry season and the absence of irrigation. The
elderly stay home, the adults go to large cities looking for jobs
and the younger people, married or single, go to work overseas,"
Komaruddin, who works in the Jago village office, told The
Jakarta Post.

Like other villagers who have relatives working abroad, Larauh
lives in a brick house. Owners of brick houses here almost always
have relatives who work overseas. And like other villages in the
province, brick houses have sprouted up over the last six years,
mingling with the traditional huts of the villagers.

Larauh's village in the hilly Praya district in Central Lombok
regency does not have asphalt roads, running water or telephone
lines. Motorists leave huge clouds of dust behind them as they
drive along the village's narrow dirt roads in the dry season.
Water is scarce and the earth cracked from the heat.

Villagers say they have no choice but go abroad to make money.
Poverty, unemployment, drought and lack of education all combine
to force residents here to leave their villages.

"Early marriages and a high divorce rate are two additional
reasons that encourage residents to work overseas," Komaruddin
said.

He said his eldest son, who works at an oil palm plantation in
Pahang, Malaysia, had sent him 500 Malaysian ringgit every month
to help him survive the drought.

Jago is just one of 22 impoverished villages whose residents
are dependent on overseas jobs. The others include Prapen,
Brantung, Praya, Tiwu Galih, Semayan, Gemel, Kenteng, Sasake,
Bara Bali, Batujai, Nyerot, Batunyale, Montong, Bunkate, Leneng,
Gerumung, Gonjak and Batu Tulis in Lombok and Sumbawa regencies.

Villagers in West Nusa Tenggara began looking abroad in 1996.
Now the province is the country's biggest labor exporter,
followed by East Java, West Java, Central Java and East Nusa
Tenggara.

Most of West Nusa Tenggara's migrant workers converge in the
province capital of Mataram on their way overseas. Hundreds of
them arrive at the intercity bus terminal and seaport daily. Many
go to Riau on their way to Malaysia, or to Jakarta on their way
to the Middle East.

They have helped increase the province's domestic product to
Rp 14.1 trillion in 2001 from 11.5 trillion in 2000 and Rp 8.2
trillion in 1999.

Despite the money, working overseas has its downside. Physical
abuse, murder and rape sometimes occur to migrant workers. Other
workers are extorted or robbed when they return home.

Mariatun, 19, who returned from Brunei in September, said she
was still traumatized by the mistreatment she suffered at the
hands of her female employer.

According to data from the local manpower and transmigration
office, 80 percent of more than 72,000 local workers who went
overseas in 2002 were elementary or junior high school graduates.

"If they were educated they would not have so many problems
and they would be paid more," said Komaruddin.

Qomariah (not her real name) recently gave birth to a
child that she says was the result of being raped by her Saudi
Arabian employer.

"I was sent home after I became pregnant," she said.

Fatalism and powerlessness are the two main reasons parents
are reluctant to file complaints against labor exporters with the
local authorities.

The Panca Karsa Foundation, which helps migrant workers in the
province, recorded 321 cases of torture, extortion, rape, murder,
sexual harassment, occupational accidents and salary blockages in
2002, and 178 cases from January to October 2003.

Since 1996, a total of 105 workers from the area have died
overseas, 648 were sent home without their pay, 43 were raped and
70 were extorted.

Deputy Governor A.H. Thamrin Rayes agreed that labor exports
were fueling the province's economy, and said the provincial
administration was preparing a labor export bylaw to provide
legal protection for workers.

"Despite the relatively small number of workers who experience
violence, extortion and rape, such crimes must be stopped because
they are against the law and human rights," he said.