`Stop exporting female workers'
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A research institute affiliated with Nahdhatul Ulama (NU) called on the government on Thursday to immediately terminate the export of female migrant workers abroad.
Head of the migrant worker advocacy team set up by the NU manpower development institute Achsin Zaidy said that given the recent plight that had befallen hundreds of overseas workers, it was high time that the government stop the export of female workers.
"The sending of migrant workers to work as baby-sitters, domestic helpers, waitresses and the like will only disgrace the whole nation," he was quoted by Antara as saying.
The 19-strong team also urged the government to establish bilateral ties with countries receiving Indonesian workers, mostly in the Middle East, and dispatch more labor attaches and police liaison officers to handle cases involving overseas workers.
"We also demand our envoys in the receiving countries to do more to protect the civil rights of our overseas workers," Achsin told reporters here.
The team has sent a petition -- concerning a moratorium on the export of migrant workers -- to President Megawati Sukarnoputri and the House of Representatives deputy speaker Muhaimin Iskandar.
NU is considered the largest Muslim organization in the country with 40 millions members.
Earlier, Muhaimin called for the resignation of Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea for his failure to protect the rights of the country's migrant workers.
Muhaimin said that the minister was considered to be unable to cope with the issue, as made evident by the repeated cases of abuse against Indonesian workers overseas.
He made the statement after a meeting of House leaders which also recommended that the government halt the export of female migrant workers.
In the last two weeks, 15 female workers have been treated at the Soekanto Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, since their arrival from a number of Middle Eastern countries.
Some of the women admitted that they had to return home after working for several months because they could no longer cope with the constant violence inflicted upon them by employers, including sexual abuse.
A number of the returning migrant workers were reportedly suffering from clinical depression.
Achsin said that the manpower ministry should penalize recruitment agencies (PJTKI) which have violated proper procedures in recruiting migrant workers.
Separately, the manpower minister rebuked demands for his resignation as aired by Muhaimin.
"I am not to blame for the plight of our migrant workers, because this is an accumulation of the country's problems during the last 32 two years," Nuwa Wea said, referring to the period of president Soeharto's administration.
He downplayed problems afflicting migrant workers, saying that they were but a small problem among a myriad of problems in his ministry.