Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Lawmakers have blamed mediocre coordination between the labor and foreign ministries for the increasing number of poorly protected Indonesians working abroad who suffer abuse from their employers.
During a hearing with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda on Monday, lawmakers at the House of Representatives Commission I called on the two ministries to better coordinate to prevent cases of abuse and the detention of migrant workers.
"Unless the government agencies work together effectively, cases of abuse and detention of our migrant workers abroad will continue," Andi M. Ghalib of the Unity Development Party said during the hearing.
He made special reference to the cases of an Indonesian maid working in Malaysia who jumped from a 15th-story apartment window to escape abuse by her employer, and the recent arrest of 76 Indonesian illegal migrant workers in the United States.
Ceriyati Dapin, a 33-year-old Indonesian maid, made headlines recently after she used a makeshift rope made of knotted pieces of cloth to flee the 15th-story apartment after allegedly having been beaten and threatened with her life by her employer.
Following Ceriyati's case, US federal agents detained 76 Indonesian citizens for allegedly overstaying and misusing their visas after authorities raided a manufacturing plant in the state of Pennsylvania.
Other lawmakers, such as Slamet Effendi Yusuf of the Golkar Party and Permadi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, praised the Foreign Ministry for its work protecting Indonesians abroad, but criticized the manpower ministry for having done little to ensure that the migrant workers had sufficient documentation and training. They said that while the manpower ministry is responsible for screening Indonesians willing to work abroad, it was busy securing payments from recruitment firms rather than taking care of the migrant workers themselves.
The fact that only a few recruitment agencies have been punished for processing migrant workers with fake and insufficient documentation, lawmakers said, proved that the manpower ministry has not taken the matter seriously.
The snag for the Foreign Ministry, they said, is that its embassies often lack accurate data on migrant workers in their territories.
The Foreign Ministry has urged Indonesian citizens traveling abroad to report to nearby embassies.
Hassan acknowledged the weaknesses in coordinating the handling of some four million Indonesian workers abroad, but said the situation should improve after the recent establishment of an inter-departmental agency for the promotion and protection of Indonesian migrant workers.
"It is an integrated effort to address the problems. We have learnt from the Philippines' model. This agency has just been formed so we are yet to see the results," he told lawmakers.
The Foreign Ministry, Hassan said, has initiated the establishment of a special "citizen services" branch at several embassies, and swelled staff numbers in countries where many Indonesian migrant workers are concentrated.
"We are yet to widen the project to many other embassies. In several embassies, such as those in Singapore and Hong Kong, migrant workers can contact embassy staff directly on their mobile phones so that they can get help at any time," he said.