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.