Dessy Sagita & Ismira Lutfia – The Indonesian government would prevent Indonesians from working illegally abroad if it provided them with alternative jobs here, the National Commiss

Jakarta – About 500 angry Indonesians staged a motorbike protest outside the Malaysian ambassador's residence in Jakarta on Wednesday to condemn the abuse of Indonesian maids by Malaysi

Camelia Pasandaran & Ismira Lutfia, Jakarta – The government has reiterated that a moratorium on sending domestic workers to Malaysia is still in force, following reports of another

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Putri Prameshwari, Jakarta – The case of 63 Indonesian women who were tricked into practical slavery by an unscrupulous Malaysian businessman is prompting

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Labor exporters have rejected a revision to a bill that intends to empower the National Agency for Overseas Labor Placement and Protection (BNP2TKI) and en

Nurfika Osman, Jakarta – The National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy is pushing lawmakers to pay attention to the welfare of millions of domestic workers in the country by making

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – About 13,000 workers staged a sit-in rally outside PT Panarub Industry shoe factory in Tangerang city to protest the management's decision to cut their Idul Fi

Malang – Police are investigating an attack on the house of a local labor activist, Luthfi Khafid, 45, on Saturday.

Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia said Sunday it could not accept an Indonesian proposal on a minimum wage for its maids amid delays on a working conditions deal following a series of shocking ab

Alfian and Panca Nugraha, Jakarta, Mataram – Workers at PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (PT NNT), a subsidiary of US mining giant Newmont Mining Corporation and the operator of the Batu Hijau

Bambang Djanuarto & Yoga Rusmana, Indonesia – Workers at the Indonesian unit of Newmont Mining Corp., the largest US gold producer, began a strike today at the Batu Hijau gold and c

Jakarta – Millions of households in Indonesia depend heavily on the services of domestic workers, such as nannies and housemaids, who are practically in charge of doing most basic house

Farouk Arnaz & Nurfika Osman, Jakarta – Members of a labor union at state electricity utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara have filed a criminal complaint against the company's boar

Putri Prameshwari – The number of Indonesians working illegally in Malaysia could spiral out of control after a long-awaited agreement on workers' protection was indefinitely delayed ag

Sunanda Creagh – A review of Indonesia's strict labor laws could be completed in one or two years, an official from the Manpower Ministry said on Thursday, longer than hoped for by inve

Putri Prameshwari – Amid endless pressure from activists for the government to formulate a law to protect the rights of domestic workers in Indonesia, the Ministry of Manpower and Trans

Putri Prameshwari – Labor activists have denounced the opposition by the Indonesian delegation to an International Labor Organization meeting this month to drafting a convention that wo

Women domestic workers in Indonesia face human rights abuses at work, including economic exploitation, poor working conditions and gender-based discrimination.

Nurfika Osman – Almost half of Indonesian overseas workers – or three million people – are victims of human trafficking, according to an annual report released on Tuesday by the US Stat

Ismira Lutfia – Domestic workers' advocates have lashed out at the House of Representatives for bumping a bill on protecting their rights from the list of priority legislation for delib

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Migrant Care is one of the NGOs providing legal advocacy for troubled migrant workers.

Nurfika Osman – The Manpower and Transmigration Ministry has set up a task force to curb the number of migrant workers heading to Malaysia in breach of a government moratorium on sendin

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Every three months at least 500 Indonesians travel to Malaysia and start work illegally, despite Indonesia's ban on allowing informal workers to migrate to t

AI Index: ASA 21/007/2010

Jon Lamb – The East Timorese government is refusing to accept a proposal by Australian-based exploration company Woodside Petroleum to develop the Greater Sunrise gas deposit in the Tim

Desy Nurhayati, Denpasar – The Bali Tourism Union is calling on the provincial administration to immediately set a minimum wage for their members.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Some 200 employees of cement company PT Semen Kupang are angry they have still not been paid their pensions and allowances after being made redundant by the co

Ismira Lutfia & Putri Prameshwari – Despite the optimism aired by Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar that the president would sign a long-awaited agreement on In

Jakarta – A Javanese tradition that holds that domestic workers must be considered as part of the families that employ them is a major hurdle for passage of a House domestic worker prot

Kuala Lumpur – The Indonesian government's bans on sending migrant workers to Malaysia will remain in force after both countries failed to agree on a minimum wage.

Ismira Lutfia – If Malaysians seem to have been unfazed by the almost yearlong ban on the placement of Indonesian migrant workers, it is because an underground business has continued to

Ismira Lutfia & Camelia Pasandaran – A joint task force will be formed to monitor a long-awaited agreement to protect Indonesian workers in Malaysia after it is signed today.

Ismira Lutfia – As the government pushes for protection of domestic workers overseas, activists on Sunday said it must start by passing a law guaranteeing their right to fair treatment

Activists demanded Saturday that Marsinah, a labor activist found dead in 1993 in East Java, be honored as a national heroine.

Anung Wendyartaka – To this day there has yet to be any visible sign of a breakthrough in the improvement of workers' standard of living.

Aidi Yursal & Dessy Sagita – The May Day banners have been put away but protesters in Jakarta plan to hit the streets again this week because the president did not show up on Saturd

Barbara Surk – Reforms undertaken by governments in the Middle East to protect domestic workers, including from Indonesia, from abuse are insufficient to shield women working as house m

The number of women leaving Indonesia, legally or illegally, has been steadily climbing over the past decade, according to the National Authority for the Placement and Protection of Ind

Adisti Dini Indreswari, Jakarta – Temporary workers at Jakarta International Container Terminal at Tanjung Priok Seaport rallied outside their office in demand for permanent status in w

Nurfika Osman – Incidents of physical, sexual and psychological violence against Indonesian migrant workers abroad continue as the government abjectly fails at protecting its citizens o

AI Index: ASA 21/003/2010

Nurfika Osman – A Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration fact-finding team on Tuesday said the firm at the center of a labor riot in Batam last week was riddled with problems.

Batam, Riau Islands – A legislator said wide gaps in both salaries and work benefits provided by PT.

Farouk Arnaz, Ismira Lutfia & Nivell Rayda – About 5,000 workers at a dry dock company on Batam Island rioted on Thursday, attacking their company's executives and foreign staff, mo

Ahmad Fikri, Jakarta – Dozens of workers in West Java took part in a rally on Tuesday (20/4) outside Bandung City Hall as a preliminary act to the international worker's day that falls

Wasti Atmodjo, Denpasar – Indonesian migrant workers overseas sent Rp 100 trillion in remittances to their families in their hometowns in 2009, data shows.

Bandung – Six former hotel employees who were fired from their jobs two years ago marched from Bandung to Jakarta on Monday to appeal for support from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

Cilacap, Central Java – The amount of cash sent back home by Indonesian migrant workers to families in Cilacap regency last year reached Rp 372 billion – almost one-third of the adminis

Ismira Lutfia & Camelia Pasandaran – Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Muhaimin Iskandar said on Monday that the government would maintain its bans on sending migrant workers

Ivansyah, Jakarta – Executives of the State oil and gas company Pertamina in its facility in Balongan, West Java met protesting workers on Friday (19/3) after three days of protests to