January 2004 Volume 11 Number 1

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Indonesian scholars and activists have called for a halt to labor emigration until the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration develops a system for recruiting and training migrants. Nahdhatul Ulama, the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia, in October 2003 said "The sending of migrant workers to work as baby-sitters, domestic helpers, waitresses and the like will only disgrace the whole nation."

Saudi Arabia says that the inability of many Indonesian domestic helpers to speak Arabic and to operate home appliances leads to problems. Many employers hire Indonesians because they are cheaper than Filipinas, but the Indonesians, often from villages without electricity, may not be able to operate appliances, which leads to frustration.

The Indonesian government said it would enact a law spelling out the rights of migrants and create advocacy teams to improve protections for migrants abroad; five teams with 80 advocates are to be established in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to deal with 800,000 documented Indonesian migrants.

However, any reforms to protect migrants are likely to be merely symbolic because of pressure to go overseas for jobs. Some 3,000 women scheduled to go overseas staged a demonstration demanding the right to emigrate. The Indonesian labor force grows by 2.5 million a year, and only about 1.5 million jobs are added in most years; un- and underemployment is put at 45 million. Advocacy groups estimate there are four million Indonesians working overseas legally and illegally, 70 percent of them women.

Legislators protect the 400 recruitment agencies. They generate an estimated $2 billion a year in revenue by charging migrants $1,500 each to go abroad, and some collect additional fees on migrants abroad. One critic said: "Parliament is unlikely to enact laws that go against agencies' interests;" some agents give legislators $100 for each migrant recruited in their district. Wahyu Susilo, migrant activist for Kopbumi, said: "From the government's perspective, a migrant worker is still considered as a commodity. So the regulation is only about how to trade them, not how to protect them."

Some 480,393 Indonesians went abroad legally to work in 2002, when remittances totaled $2.8 billion. Returning migrants complain that when they pass through a special terminal for them in Jakarta, instead of protection they are exposed to government and private agents charging them unauthorized fees and giving them poor exchange rates.

The Minister of Manpower, Jacob Nuwa Wea, said that he wants to "form an advocacy agency, design a special passport for workers, and provide legal protection for them during their employment overseas." Indonesia, however, has no bilateral labor agreements that could be used to protect migrants. Adi Sasono, a leader of the Association of the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals, said, "Who are we if all we can export abroad is unskilled workers? It means we are really a nation of coolies and a coolie among nations."

A group of 32 returned "buruh migran" - migrant workers - has established a cattle breeding business in Banyumas, Central Java. This effort by a group of former domestic helpers was one of the first efforts of returned migrants to establish jobs at home and was directed by the head of the Indonesian Migrant Workers' Union in Hong Kong.

Philippines. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) licenses recruitment agencies, and urges potential migrants to undergo orientation before departing. Recruiters are limited by law to charging migrants one month of the salary they will earn abroad, but migrants know that there are more applicants than jobs, and consequently many pay the equivalent of two to six months wages to move up in the queue of workers seeking foreign jobs. Filipinas leaving for jobs as maids in Hong Kong commonly are paid the equivalent of three months wages in 2001-02. Recruiting Filipinos for overseas jobs is a $400 million a year business.

The Philippine government aims to protect migrants by urging recruiters to police themselves through their associations, such as the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (Pasei), by issuing model contracts, and by making recruitment agents and foreign employers jointly liable for violations of the contract. Overseas Foreign Workers or OFWs, for example, do not have to pay the airport departure tax of 550 pesos ($15), but many wind up paying escort fees of $200 to leave the country.

Since the late 1970s, the Philippine government has encouraged emigration, creating a private migration infrastructure that includes recruitment agents, construction contractors who take workers abroad to their overseas jobs, travel agencies, schools and training centers, and medical clinics that provide necessary health certification. Once a significant number of migrants are abroad, a network of remittance agents and foreign exchange brokers emerged to help transfer funds home.

Some 891,980 Filipinos were deployed to overseas jobs in 2002, up from 372,784 in 1985. In 2002, 22 percent of the migrants went to Saudi Arabia; in 1985, 50 percent went to Saudi Arabia.

Richel Dursin, "Indonesia: A Migrant Worker Tries Her Hand As An Entrepreneur," Inter Press Service, December 16, 2003. Dianthus Saputra Estey, "Indonesia exports migrant workers," Aljazeera, November 16, 2003. Robert Go, "Jakarta acts to protect workers going Abroad," Straits Times, November 8, 2003.