Rights body urges NGOs to help overseas workers

Rights body urges NGOs to help overseas workers

JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights is
urging non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to take concrete
steps to help Indonesian workers overseas, including the tens of
thousands of illegal migrants currently facing deportation from
Malaysia.

Commission members Clementino dos Reis Amaral, B.N. Marbun and
Soegiri made the call when they received members of seven NGOs
who went to the government-sponsored organization to lament the
fate of Indonesian overseas workers.

Among the non-governmental organizations were Solidaritas
Perempuan (Women's Solidarity), the Center for Human Rights
Information and Education, the Legal Aid Institute, and Panca
Karsa Foundation.

The NGOs called on the rights body to help curb human rights
violations against Indonesian workers both at home and abroad.
They also urged the ministries of manpower and foreign affairs to
probe the deaths of a number of Indonesian female workers in
Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore over the last three years.

Amaral said: "It is not enough for you to cry for the deceased
workers here. You should try to cooperate with provincial
administrations seeking ways to help protect workers."

He suggested the NGOs and provincial authorities set up teams
to campaign for workers' rights, and to educate prospective
migrant workers on the legal procedures for working overseas and
on the labor laws that prevail in the receiving countries.

Soegiri recommended that the NGOs help the two above
ministries create jobs for illegal workers deported from
Malaysia.

Deport

Malaysia plans to deport 10,000 illegal immigrants a month, up
from the 3,000 it used to send back. The Sunday Times reported
Sunday that Kuala Lumpur made the decision because their
detention camps could only accommodate 3,000 at a time.

Malaysia is now deploying navy ships, police speed boats,
helicopters and coast guards along its Malacca Strait coast
bordering Sumatra to stem the flow of migrants from Indonesia.

An estimated one million Indonesians have migrated illegally
to Malaysia to seek jobs because of the prolonged monetary
crisis, according to the newspaper.

Indonesia is expected to earn US$871 million from the
remittances of Indonesians working overseas, mostly in Malaysia
and Saudi Arabia.

The government has projected that an estimated 2.5 million
people will be working overseas in 2000, contributing about $12.5
billion in foreign exchange annually.

Marbun said the government should respond to and accommodate
complaints about the hardship facing Indonesian workers overseas.

"The government should realize its task is to protect our
workers sent abroad because Indonesia annually receives millions
of dollars in remittances from exported labor," he said.

The Rembang, Central Java, police precinct foiled yesterday
the illegal sending of 122 job seekers overseas by unauthorized
labor brokers in the regency. The prospective workers had been
sent home to Pati, Juana and Dasem districts.

Rembang police precinct chief Lt. Col. Sukamto said the
illegal operation was detected after receiving reports from local
people.

"They (the job seekers) were apprehended at the Rembang bus
terminal," he said, adding that police had begun to hunt the
illegal labor brokers who collected Rp 1 million (US$110) from
each of the job seekers. (rms/har)