Scholars urge halt to export of workers
Scholars urge halt to export of workers
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Scholars and activists have demanded the government halt the
export of workers until the Ministry of Manpower and
Transmigration overhauls its worker recruitment system and the
House of Representatives endorses a migrant workers protection
bill.
Scholar Nurcholish Madjid said on Saturday the government must
draft an entirely new platform of policies to protect migrant
workers.
"The policies must take into account the rights of workers to
job security, decent jobs and proper training prior to their
departure," he said when visiting returned female migrant workers
being treated at the Soekanto Police Hospital in Kramat Jati,
East Jakarta.
In the last two weeks, 15 workers returning from the Middle
East have been treated at the hospital for physical injuries and
mental depression allegedly caused by abuse they suffered at the
hands of their former employers.
Some of the workers said they could not cope with the constant
violence inflicted by the employers, including sexual and
physical abuse, and fled their jobs.
Hidayat Nur Wahid, a lecturer at the Jakarta Islamic
University, called on the government to stop sending migrant
workers abroad unless it could draw up new mechanisms to protect
the workers.
"The government has ignored the workers although they have
been recognized as foreign exchange earners that contribute a
great deal to the country," he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Scholar Masdar F. Mas'udi, director of the Indonesian Society
for Pesantren Development, also said more must be done to protect
migrant workers.
"The government repeatedly has said that migrant workers have
contributed much to the country's economy, but it does nothing to
help them," he said.
An activist with the Consortium for Migrant Workers
Protection, Normawati, urged the House to endorse a migrant
workers protection bill.
"Without legal protection the lives of our migrant workers are
in jeopardy," she said.
Legislator Didik Supriyanto of House Commission VII for
population and welfare said the House would begin deliberating
the bill on Nov. 3.
The bill outlines the obligation and rights of migrant
workers, worker recruitment agencies and the government. The bill
also outlines, among other items, a worker recruitment system, a
training system, work contracts and legal counsel for workers.
Didik said that under the bill, a body would be set up to
protect workers and monitor the activities of recruitment
agencies. The body would be chaired by the manpower minister,
with assistance from relevant institutions including the foreign
ministry, the justice and human rights ministry and the police.
Nurcholis expressed his disappointment with the manpower
minister, Jacob Nuwa Wea, who has not visited the hospitalized
workers.
"That shows the minister's ignorance," he said.
He also compared the Indonesian government with the Philippine
government.
"The Philippine government goes all out to help its workers if
something bad happen to them," he said.
House Deputy Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar has demanded the
resignation of Jacob for his failure to protect migrant workers.
Saudi Arabian Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ali bin
Ibrahim Al-Namlah has also encouraged the Indonesian government
to provide proper training for its workers before sending them
abroad. He said the Indonesian workers' inability to speak Arabic
and to operate home appliances had led to problems between
workers and employers.