TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Under economic pressure, drained savings, and the need to wire money to her child back home, Indonesian migrant worker Tini Taturia made a desperate decision to work in the middle of 2021,despite being aware that Malaysia has imposed a lockdown.
Her critical decision led to her arrest by the Royal Malaysia Police. “I truly apologize if I committed a violation. I have nothing else to eat, which is why I had to go out and look for money. They eventually understood. I was told to go back home, stay there, and not go out of the house,” said Tiny as she recalled her arrest to Tempo in early December.
Ever since the pandemic hit every corner of the world, including Malaysia, Tiny faced a bleak destiny. As the pandemic devastated the country, the Malaysian government decided to hit the brakes and impose a national lockdown.
The Malaysian government at one time banned people from working. Tiny and her husband were restrained at their house in Puchong, the major town in the Petaling district in Selangor. The couple from East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) no longer were able to make money and were forced to stop sending money back to their only offspring back at their hometown.
“I never wired money back to Indonesia until this moment, which lasted from the first period of the pandemic,” said Tiny. For food, she and her husband were limited to depending on assistance from her employer, Indonesian government, and Church donations.
The gripping situation loosened in early 2021 as in February, Tiny worked as a cleaning service who gets paid 64 ringgit or Rp218 thousand for every order she takes. But just a couple of months later in the middle of 2021, the government imposed another lockdown caused by the spread of the Delta variant. She found herself unemployed again.
Amongst the difficult times, thoughts of returning home crossed their minds but was abruptly shut down after considering the cost of doing so amounting to 1,800 ringgits or roughly Rp6 million each. “How can we afford to buy the tickets? We could only weep from here as a family member passed away due to Covid-19 back home,” she said. Both are depending on better fortune ahead.
Stories from people like Tiny make the tip of the iceberg about Indonesian migrant workers residing in foreign countries. Data provided by the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers Agency as of November 2021 reveals most complaints come from migrant workers from Malaysia. From January to November 2021, there have been 367 complaints from workers in Malaysia out of the total 1,553 complaints filed from each and every placement country.
Based on the types of complaints that were filed, most of them are migrant workers who ask to be transported back home, comprising 486 complaints. Other top five reasons include unpaid wages, deaths in a foreign country, human trafficking, and work-related fraud.
The Human Trafficking Watch (HTW) acknowledges problems related to employment and human trafficking continues to threaten these migrant workers till this day. HTW representative in Malaysia, Dewi Kholifah, said most of the complaints come from the construction sector and domestic workers.
She said many of the Indonesian workers who filed complaints to HTW are unaware of what to do if they are faced with employment and violence. “Many who come here are oblivious of what a KBRI (Indonesian embassy) is and where they are located. Some are not even able to write down their own names,” said Dewi.
This situation is often taken advantage of by criminal syndicates. Dewi often stumbles upon complaints from legitimate migrant workers but are not in possession of their own passports as the crucial document is kept by either their employer or agent.
There are cases where migrant workers are enticed to sign undisclosed contracts offered by shady agents, which eventually leads them to work without proper pay. “Even though they are legally recruited, here’s where problems emerge. This is what we need to pay attention to and urge the government to provide Indonesian migrant workers with sufficient protection,” said Dewi.
It had just been one week after Carminah arrived in Brunei Darussalam when her husband Edi, passed away from a respiratory disease in March 2019. The West Javan resident initially worked overseas as a migrant worker to pay for her husband’s treatment.
The devastating news only reached the 50-year old mother of four children 40 days after Edi’s death. “It was a mix of emotions. I was shocked and heartbroken,” she said to Tempo in early December of 2021.
However, Carminah was faced with no option. As the news broke, she had just worked as a house assistant for one week. She had to pay for her own transportation if she decided to return home at the time.
The desire to return home crossed her mind one year after the death of her husband. According to Carminah, her employer in Brunei Darussalam actually gave her permission to fly to Indonesia, but under the condition she covers her own travel expenses.
“But my wage was withheld. I was confused. What should I bring home then,” she said. In the end, Carminah decided to struggle through to the end of her work contract.
Prior to her departure to Brunei, Carminah was promised a monthly wage of 300 ringgit or Brunei dollar - which converts roughly to Rp3.1 million. However, 100 ringgit was cut from her monthly wages for ten months. “They said it was for the agents,” she recalled.
She returned to Indonesia in March of 2021 with her wages intact and travel expenses covered by her employer, which according to Carminah, intended to extend her contract if she had not requested to return home. “Because it was difficult to look for workers during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Carminah.
Carminah had to work hard to look for a steady income as she returned home. Ever since her husband’s death, the financial burden of her two children and sick grandparent rested solely on her shoulders.
For the past three months, she took the job as a babysitter with a monthly pay of Rp1.2 million and claims she never received any form of social assistance from the government that was distributed to the impoverished during the pandemic. “I was registered but have yet to receive any sort of assistance,” Carminah recalled.
The influx of Indonesian migrant workers returning home became apparent since the pandemic first spread. Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said there are more than 24 thousand Indonesian migrant workers returning to Indonesia in April, and the number grew to 25 thousand in May of 2021. Back in April of 2020, Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah said there are 88,759 migrant workers returning home.
Several Indonesian migrant workers are subjected to health restrictions upon their return and must undergo quarantine, which is overseen by the Covid-19 task force circular No.23/2021. Despite the rules stating that the government covers the quarantine expenses, in reality there are migrant workers who had to fund their own quarantine.
Former migrant worker once employed in Singapore, Arumy Muzadhy, recalled how one of her friends had to pay for their own self quarantine bills at a Surabaya hotel. Even though Arumy’s friend returned to Indonesia because of a job termination.
“She had to pay for the cost of her quarantine without any previous notice,” said Arumy, who currently works for an agency that handles migrant workers’ issues.
Tempo wrote about aspects that were out of place regarding hotel quarantine in July this year, which includes what was felt by a number of migrant workers. Titin (43) was delegated to self isolation - together with a group of friends upon their return from Taiwan - at a hotel located in Tangerang, Banten in January,
Airport officials, Titin recalled, explained that the quarantine period and PCR tests would be free of charge but she was eventually charged Rp1.6 million for two PCR swab tests. Titin and her friends protested this policy and it was eventually reduced to Rp800 thousand.
Migrant Care Director Anis Hidayah said migrant workers who traveled home amidst the pandemic can potentially increase the number of unemployment as there were less job opportunities and departing for jobs overseas was difficult to land. Anis said some of them started to sell assets and took loans to fulfill basic life necessities.
Hidayah said the International Labour Organization (ILO) issued six recommendations to have susceptible migrant workers be included in Covid-19 responsive policy priorities. However, the government has yet to introduce any substantial programs.
The government actually has a number of social aid programs for people affected by Covid-19, such as the Manpower Ministry’s wage assistance subsidy that distributes Rp. 600 thousand for workers with monthly wages below Rp 5 million.
She explained that migrant workers who return to Indonesia do not qualify for this category even though they are registered as the Workers’ Social Security Agency (BPJS) members. “They no longer qualify because after returning home they are no longer workers,” said Anis to Tempo in November.
Moreover, migrant workers who return to Indonesia often do not receive assistance from the Social Affairs Ministry. Anis said that social assistance schemes often do not apply to migrant workers. "They are not considered poor families."
Many migrant workers return home with barely enough money. Central Java’s Kebumen Regency Migrant Care coordinator Syaipul Anas said some of the workers had to return without being paid their complete wages, a situation that happened in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak back in 2020.
“They feared the Covid-19 outbreak. Some had the mindset that it would be better to return home despite not receiving their full pay,” said Anas. There were at least 40 migrant workers from his region who were placed in Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.
Former migrant workers, according to Anas, are able to access a number of local government assistance such as training programs that would help elevate a person’s skill on creating batik, cooking, baking, and general business.
Anas personally accompanied hundreds of former migrant workers from five villages in his regency. They formed communities that consist of 20-25 members and gather based on the training programs they are interested in.
Each community then submits a training proposal to certain agencies, such as the Manpower Department and UKM Cooperatives. Developing skills in entrepreneurship is the goal after they complete their training.
These former migrant workers, and those with higher financial capabilities, would then pitch-in as initial venture capital. “We seldom receive financial programs,” he said.
Head of the Agency for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BP2MI) Benny Rhamdani claims the government constantly protects migrant workers, this includes those who have returned home. He said it is mandated by Law No.18/2017 overseeing the protection for Indonesian migrant workers.
The deputy chairperson of Hanura Party said the BP2MI also plans to introduce two programs for former migrant workers with the first being a volunteer community for PMIs, dubbed the “Kawan PMI”, which will be established in 260 Indonesian regencies and cities.
The second program is touted as the PMI Entrepreneurs Association or “Perwira PMI.” Both programs will be launched on December 18, coinciding with the International Migrants Day.
“This is for those who succeeded and have returned home to Indonesia and intend to start a business,” said Benny.
Migrant Care representative in Malaysia, Alex Ong said pandemic restrictions have mainly targeted people without legal documents, as these people depend on daily jobs to make a living and the mobility restriction imposed by the government left them unemployed and do not have means for income to buy food, pay rent, and other daily expenses.
During this difficult time, the social workers, even the Indonesian Embassy, found it difficult to reach the migrant workers spread across a large area. “Even if we mobilize to the streets and bring them something, what can we do? We could only see them suffer. This is a major challenge and it is the first time we faced such a situation,” said Ong.
Alex recalled that his organization was only able to act after obtaining a legal permit from the Indonesian Embassy, which was approved by local authorities. The most catastrophic situation he witnessed is when he encountered over a dozen Indonesians living in a dump site and were constrained to eating food in the trash to survive. Because of this, he said food assistance became their main focus in saving these Indonesian migrant workers.
Apart from food supply, Alex revealed cases of exploitation and physical abuse committed by the employers, which continues to happen to this day. During this situation, Migrant Care headquarters located in a condominium was not able to accommodate people. According to him, on a normal day the Migrant Care office would often be used as a shelter for Indonesian migrant workers who need protection.
Head of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) Benny Rhamdani said the government is finding it difficult to protect the migrant workers due to the abundance of workers entering placement countries without adhering to the established procedures. Citing their data, there are only 4.3 million Indonesians working as migrant workers, meanwhile, the World Bank suggests there are 9 million Indonesian migrant workers.
“If we recite the World Bank data, there are 4.7 million of our workers who are unregistered and I am one thousand percent sure that 90 percent of them are victims of human trafficking that are committed by syndicates,” he said.
Benny insists that those unofficially working as migrant workers remain outside of the government’s radar and are unable to track their origins and identity, where they are currently working, and what their specific jobs are, as these records are basically nonexistent. He said the government is restricted to taking action after the workers themselves file complaints when an incident occurs.
“Which is why we are massively campaigning for safe migration and urging people against working overseas illegally,” said Benny.
Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Director of Protection for Citizens Judha Nugraha acknowledged that the pandemic has unfortunately helped spark issues related to undocumented migrant workers no longer having sources of income, which leads to logistical problems.
To address this pressing issue, Nugraha said representatives in Malaysia have distributed government assistance in the form of basic need packages in 2020. This program continues to live on in 2021. “We have allocated Rp64 billion to representative offices around the globe, and most of them have been distributed to Malaysia,” Nugraha said.
In protecting the migrant workers and expanding the government’s reach in handling this issue, he said the government continues to involve each and every stakeholder starting from the workers themselves, community members, mass organizations, up to local authorities.
Meanwhile, Rijal Al Huda from the Consular Affairs Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) in Malaysia, said the pandemic has highly increased the number of possible conflicts between migrant workers and their employers. “Many of the employers were affected and had no more income. This increases the potential for abuse,” said Huda, Malaysia Kini reported.
Upon protecting the migrant workers, Rijal said the Indonesian embassy and Consulate General (KJRI) have actually provided a hotline, even though he admits that it was only effective for the second pandemic year. The government and stakeholders were still looking for a proper system to implement in the first year of the pandemic. However, entering the second year, the Indonesian Embassy and Consulate General have partnered better alongside the Malaysian Royal Police.
One of the partnerships, he explained, is the distribution of social assistance packages. The second year of the pandemic saw the KBRI distribute 145 - 150 thousand packages to Indonesian migrant workers in need. “Covid-19 is proven to be troublesome for the documented, let alone the undocumented. Many of their employers were suddenly not able to afford paying even the legal workers,” said Huda.
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