Ridwan Max Sijabat

The Jakarta Post’s Ridwan Max Sijabat delves into the complex issue of migrant worker exploitation.The government can no longer blame human trafficking syndicates for migrant workers’ never-ending plight. Bureaucratic procedures and better legal protection should be the main considerations in forming policies related to efforts to improve welfare for migrant workers and their families. In fact, the existing labor migration procedure as stipulated in Law No. 39/2004 on overseas labor placement and protection, and relevant ministerial decrees have actually been designed to increase the number of works sent abroad and bring in more state remittance, rather than help citizens seek jobs overseas and protect them during their trips and subsequent employment. Official procedures state that labor supplying companies are supposed to apply for permits with the directorate general for Labor Placement at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry to recruit prospective migrant workers based on job orders from their partner agencies overseas.Recruitment is carried out by labor brokers and labor supplying companies’ field staff in poor rural villages in Java, Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, Sumatra and Kalimantan. Very often, workers are given misleading information and promised well-paid jobs overseas. Most of the recruited are underage because those above 18 are generally married and cannot leave their families. Their age in their travel documents is “inflated” to 22 or older because the law requires that a prospective migrant worker be at least 21.The recruited workers are pooled in special dormitories in Jakarta to undergo job training and apply for documentation from relevant agencies, including the police, the immigration office, the Health Ministry and the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry.Ministerial decrees No. 22/2009 on recruitment procedure and No. 23/2009 on insurance consortium for migrant workers, require prospective migrant workers to pass a medical checkup, undergo a 200-hour or three-week job training, and possess health and profession certificates. But in reality, this official procedure has very often been manipulated by labor exporters to minimize recruitment fees.In many cases, worker data, including names, age, passport and certificates are falsified by sponsor companies to cut recruitment fees that can amount up to Rp 24 million, which is paid by the foreign employer and by the worker via debits from their monthly wage.In providing advocacy for troubled workers, we have very often found underage workers. Their age is claimed to be 22, or older, to meet the legal requirement. Their names on their passports are also often changed with those of migrant workers who have already returned home. By doing this, the workers need not seek new health and competency certificates because their data is already stored at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry,” executive director of Migrant Care Anis Hidayah says. Migrant workers generally do not object to these manipulations if they speed up their departure and employment process, but they are not aware of the danger awaiting them at their workplace.In many cases, many workers die of serious illness, are abused by their employers or their wages are withheld as a sort of punishment for having no required competence,” she said. In 2009, she added, 579 workers died in Malaysia from fatal diseases, occupational accidents and mistreatment.
Regarding why those falsified documents are allowed to go overseas, the problem has a lot to do with the nontransparent document verification process and the absence serious supervision by the police.
The overseas labor placement office in Ciracas, East Jakarta, verifies labor documentation manually in the presence of sponsor companies, instead of prospective migrant workers. That is why few flaws are detected.Our authority is dealing with the bureaucracy, it is not our authority to determine whether a health or competence certificate is falsified or not. Whenever we are suspicious about any documents we will seek clarification from the workers’ sponsors,” head of the overseas labor placement office Berry Komarulzaman said.Besides, at the office in Ciracas, verification is conducted without any supervision from the police, allowing corrupt officials and sponsors “to settle” falsified documents with money.
The chief of the National Agency for the Protection and Placement of Migrant Workers, Jumhur Hidayat, points his finger at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry. He says the ministry is partly to blame for human trafficking due to its rejection of a proposal to install an online-recruitment system that would cost Rp 14 billion.In a recent special meeting called by the coordinating minister for people’s welfare, I asked the manpower and transmigration minister to take responsibility for human trafficking, which makes Indonesian workers slaves overseas,” he says.The takeover by the ministry of the labor export has increased by 15 percent the number of troubled workers who depart from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport’s Terminal 4, which was built in part to cope with increased migrant worker numbers, Jumhur says.Wahyu Susilo, a migrant worker activist, blames the government for human trafficking because both regulations and the labor export procedures have loopholes open to abuse by corrupt government officers in sending migrant workers overseas.The government is guilty by omission,” he says.He says that last year’s imprisonment of former Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia Rusdihardjo and embassy staff Akhriken Sembiring for imposing double charges on workers applying for immigration document extensions was proof that corruption is rife in the labor export business.
Labor exporters have denied involvement in human trafficking, but many have admitted they manipulated worker documents and used falsified documents.A labor exporter recently found guilty of supplying illegal workers to Malaysia, says that an ensuing investigation uncovered labor brokers and village chiefs with the authority to issue identity cards who were manipulating documents.
In a recent hearing with the House of Representatives’ Committee III on social and labor affairs, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar revealed that 80 percent of labor cases abroad are handled unprofessionally.The rife manipulation of workers’ documents, mainly health and competency certificates, has caused various problems during their departure and employment overseas. Education, training and communications skills must be made basic requirements to allow workers to protect themselves,” he said.The coordination meeting he held with all stake holders on Thursday in Jakarta, recommended no measures on how to stop the falsification of workers’ documents, supervise the labor export procedure or halt human trafficking, because the core problems lay within the manpower ministry and the Justice and Human Rights Ministry.