Slaves or heroes?

The latest disconcerting report from Singapore has it that maids-for-hire were made to sit in employment agency windows so as to make it easier for potential employers to make their pick.

This measure, which was no doubt intended to be practical, has drawn criticism from some Singaporeans, who said it recalled the practice of prostitutes sitting in windows in the Netherlands or Russia to attract customers.

Indonesian women are among the 140,000 domestics working in Singaporean households, and they are among the at least 500,000 Indonesians working overseas, who contribute some US$2.2 billion in crucial foreign exchange to this country, according to last year's estimates.

While this report from Singapore would seem to be the latest insult to our overseas workers -- mostly women working as maids who are "not accorded even basic human dignity", in the words of one Singaporean activist -- it merely reinforces the glaring fact that governments that send and receive migrants still have much to do to ensure the welfare and protection of the workers, even when it concerns citizens of neighboring countries.

Based on reports from other countries where our nationals work, such as in the Middle East, conditions in Singapore are better, since in the island-state justice is quick once the authorities learn that a worker has been abused. Nevertheless, a death toll of 89 Indonesian women workers in Singapore since 1999 is no cause for comfort, and calls into question the responsibility of all those involved in the sending and recruiting of the workers.

While Singaporeans convicted of abusing their workers are blacklisted from ever again employing foreign domestic help, and special programs are held to educate people employing foreigner workers for the first time, one must also question the sort of training potential domestic workers receive in preparation for their employment. Reports in the Singapore media have revealed how new maids are immediately taken from the airport to employers' homes, perhaps under the assumption that their training in Indonesia is sufficient, even though some of the women cannot speak a word of English.

One cannot blame the workers for failing to seek all the necessary information and skills. Millions of other Indonesian women would gladly seize the chance to follow in the footsteps of their sisters to overseas employment, and the stories of those who returned from overseas with nothing to show, those who were abused and those who died in suspicious circumstances are dismissed as bad luck.

In the absence of clear rules to ensure that workers understand their rights and obligations, the women can only hang on to the hope that they, too, may one day be able to renovate their homes and send money for their children's tuition. Working abroad is seen as a sure way out of poverty, and one that is easier than, for instance, domestic work in large cities here, where one is likely to be abused anyway and the pay is less.

Indonesia has been sending workers abroad for some 20 years; yet it seems that we are content to simply enjoy the money that they send back. We are relieved that we do not need to think about creating jobs for hundreds of thousands of people, and fail to ensure that they can work in dignity, return home safely and enjoy the fruits of their labor.

This has been clear from the constant stream of horror stories surrounding our workers, whether in the Middle East or elsewhere, despite years of hoarse campaigning by activists -- and a recent survey that shows 35 percent of workers face extortion when they return home. Neighboring Philippines at least makes efforts toward ensuring the welfare and safety of their migrant workers, whom their leaders have rightly described as national "heroes and heroines".

Among the latest joint efforts to protect our workers is a commitment by Indonesia and South Korea to cooperate on training and providing legal protection for some 70,000 Indonesian "apprentices" in that country. Also, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said a training center would be opened on Batam island for Indonesians hoping to find employment in Singapore.

But without ensuring that legal action is taken against all those involved in the abuse of workers, relying solely on the skills of workers to keep employers happy reminds one of the situation faced by victims of human traffickers.

As governments in the region begin to recognize their mutual need for foreign labor on the one hand and foreign exchange on the other, hopefully it will not take more casualties to awaken our leaders to their responsibilities.