SACRIFICING FAMILIES TO GET AHEAD

City of 100,000 Sacrifices  

They settle on the sidewalk of a pretty park, squatting wherever there’s shade and shelter. Then they unpack their suitcases and like magicians reveal their gifts, talents – and needs.

Indonesian women, mainly 20 and 30 somethings, singing, dancing, preparing food, making handicrafts, reading the Koran, seemingly happy.  It’s a scene common across the archipelago, hardly worth a comment except for one tragic omission. No children.

Duncan Graham reports from Hong Kong on the sadness, suffering and resilience of the nation’s remittance heroines.

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Dewi Karina (above) is attractive, cheerful and smart. The creative 33-year old makes beautiful flowers out of plastic and whatever materials she can find, and she teaches her skills to others at no cost.

Back in her home town of Surabaya live her two teenage children – and her former husband.

Divorce is one of many hazards faced by the Tenaga Kerja Indonesia [Indonesian work force - TKI] who labor overseas to get their families ahead - while their partners grow restless and sometimes roam.  TKIs don’t just suffer homesickness – they also risk family disintegration.

Another danger is exploitation and brutality.  Earlier this year Indonesian maid Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, 23, became internationally known for all the wrong reasons.

She alleged she’d been forced to work 21 hours a day and so badly beaten she was hospitalised on returning to East Java.  She carried just US $9 (Rp 100,000) in her wallet after working for nine months.  Her beautician boss was charged with assault and criminal intimidation; the matter is still before the courts.

The case shocked because Hong Kong is reputed to be the safest overseas posting for Indonesian domestics, with labor laws well enforced, unlike the Middle East.

Every Sunday the Indonesians gather in Victoria Park for their weekly bonding.  More than 100,000 are employed in the former British colony, now the Special Administrative Region of China, and most spend all day at the 19 hectare park.

Early arrivals, like Khumaidah, 33, bring rolls of plastic to cover the kerb under a footbridge, ready for her friends to sit.  She’s bareheaded and wears a scoop-neck pink T-shirt, but later ducks into the women’s toilet, emerging in an all-encompassing print dress and green jilbab, the right headgear for a Koranic reading.

“There’s no discrimination here,” she said.  “More and more women are wearing headscarves.” Badges proclaiming ‘I love Allah’ are common.

Dewi, 30, wanders by in black, collecting for Gaza Strip victims of the Palestine-Israel conflict.  Everyone contributes. The activist says it’s her way of expressing solidarity with fellow Muslims overseas.

In between sits Nyami Kaswadi, 47, (below)  who has lugged about 50 kilograms of books from her employer’s flat to set up her Pandu Pustaka suitcase library, an eclectic mix of pop fiction, literature and self-help books.

“I want to show the people of Hong Kong that we are not prostitutes,” she said forcefully.  “We are proud wives and mothers who have left our homes and families only because there’s no work in our homeland.

“We can spend our spare time sitting around and gossiping, or we can use the opportunity to learn.  I’m not upset if borrowers don’t return books.  That means they are being read.”

Nearby a tambourine band gets set to sing Islamic songs, while around the corner a small group is vigorously dancing to a raunchy Western tune.  The lyrics celebrate women’s role in society, asserting individuality and equality.

Their energetic leader Saniya is a member of Aliansi Migran Progresif, [AMP] a self-help organization that ensures workers’ rights are respected.

“If our members have problems with their bosses we act as go-betweens,” said AMP President Yuni.  “This can be a tough country, but the laws do protect foreign workers.

“Difficulties include adjusting to the lifestyle and language. Although English is widely used, caregivers need Cantonese to help the elderly.”

A few local men pass through and there’s cheerful banter. Some women have married Chinese and settled in Hong Kong.  There are whispers about lesbianism, and it’s clear there are several same-sex couples in the crowds, doing little to hide their affection.  It’s joyless being alone in a foreign land.

Bored Leisure and Cultural Services staff wander around hoping to snare a trader, for ‘hawking’ is prohibited. Fat chance.

The women outnumber the officials by several hundred to one, so who knows whether bungkus (take-away) plastic boxes of bakso (meat ball soup), nasi campur (rice and mixed vegetables and a dozen other delicacies are changing hands for cash or friendship.

A Dutch couple from Jakarta with a new-born stop to chat – politely declining requests to nurse the blond baby from women desperate to relive the joys of motherhood they’ve forsaken. Their expressions are heart-ripping. Being separate from their kids is like a gaol term.

Lia Samatron’s (left) perfect English and easy confidence with bureaucracy makes her the go-to for first-timers registering at the nearby Indonesian Embassy, conveniently close to shops selling the spices that gave the islands their first name.

“I used to run a travel agency from my home,” Lia said.  “When I’ve saved enough I’ll go back and re-open.

“There are so many opportunities for improvement.  One of the (Indonesian) banks here runs courses on small business management.  If you’re motivated you can learn much that will get you a better job.

“This education should be available in Indonesia.  We shouldn’t have to leave our homes and families.”

The basic wage is about HK $4,000 (Rp 6 million) plus food and accommodation, usually a tiny space in a cramped high rise.

 “Who’d want to be a maid in Indonesia?” Lia asked. “The money is bad and so is the treatment. Here we can earn enough to help our families, and get our children a good education.”

Wanti, 47, agreed. She’s putting her two daughters through Malang’s Brawijaya University and is determined they’ll not have to labor overseas. 

Across the spectacular harbor on Kowloon Peninsula Icha, 24, has taken on the local dress style of short shorts while showing her new friend Wati, 27, the sights.  These include a cruise liner that pours its contents of well-heeled overseas tourists into an already seething shopping mall.

“I like Hong Kong because I have freedom to do what I want and wear what I like,” said Icha, a four-year veteran.  “I can’t be myself in Indonesia.” 

Two Indonesian men approach and the couples are swallowed by the crowd.  No-one pays any attention:  Hong Kong is a city where you mind your own business and get on with life.

(First published in The Jakarta Post 31 August 2014)

INDONESIAN MAIDS IN TAIWAN

Kaimah
The dignity of the long distance worker © 2007 Duncan Graham

Most stories about Indonesian domestic workers who labor overseas are grim. Abuse, rip offs, brutality, with some Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (TKI – Indonesian overseas labor force), coming home in wheelchairs or coffins.

But this yarn is cheeringly different – undoubtedly because the woman involved is in a class of her own.

Kaimah, 31, left Cilacap in Central Java, her husband Elia Tri Madi and their three year old son Reza two years ago with one goal: To raise enough money to buy medicine for her younger sister Suwanti who was suffering from bone cancer.

The disease is now in remission and Kaimah has stayed on in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, to earn more money for Reza’s education.

Taiwanese employers reckon Indonesian maids have a reputation for being flexible and placid – unlike their colleagues from the Philippines. Kaimah’s boss Chen Kong runs a printing business; he said Filipino workers were better educated, but tended to be arrogant and consider themselves superior.

But in putting the tiny Kaimah on his payroll he’s got anything but the standard complaisant TKI. Instead he’s fostering a political activist in the making.

“We are hired for our ability to do menial work that the Taiwanese don’t want to do,” she said. “Many people look down on domestic workers from abroad, but we are ambassadors for our country.

“We should keep our head high, be proud of being Indonesians and tell the Taiwanese about our great nation. We should be able to sing and dance so we can show other countries that we are cultured people.

“But we’re not just muscles. We have brains and we must use them.”

This isn’t just empty rhetoric. Kaimah doesn’t shuffle behind her employers trying to be invisible in a pale uniform, but pedals a bike around Taipei wearing bright colors, jostling for space with the locals as an equal. She doesn’t need company when going out.

She has taught herself Mandarin and English and is at ease in both, speaking up with fluency and vigor.

On one occasion witnessed by this reporter the feisty Kaimah was in a Taipei restaurant when it was visited by a delegation of senior Indonesian bureaucrats and national politicians on an official visit to Taiwan.

Others sat silent, conscious that in the presence of such VIPs there was no role for humble manual workers. But Kaimah, who was caring for her boss’s son, was unfazed by the event, the surroundings or her place in the proceedings.

“Maybe it’s because my family originally came from West Sumatra,” she said. “I may be a Javanese but I don’t like this going round and round. I want to be direct.”

So she took the opportunity to dispense with the standard Javanese formalities and give the visitors a good blast about the plight of the TKI.

In her sights were employers who maltreat workers, labor agencies who cheat TKI out of their wages with illegal fees, banks who charge 19 per cent for loans, and workers who sign contracts they don’t understand.


Kaimah stressed that the Indonesian government should take a more vigorous role in protecting its citizens abroad and enforce the law. The visitors, nonplussed by the outburst, just nodded and departed.

Late last year the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei (there is no embassy because Indonesia officially follows the One China Policy, recognizing only the People’s Republic of China) installed a computer system that records short message service (SMS) calls 24 hours a day from disgruntled TKI. So far it has taken more than 7,000 hits.

It also runs three shelters for abused workers and those seeking new placements.

But Kaimah isn’t just critical of bureaucrats, bad employers and sly labor agencies. She also knows that some TKI get themselves into trouble for not being assertive and trusting too much. Some get into relationships with Taiwanese men, though they have families back home.

Lending money to ‘friends’ who then abscond with the cash, trusting others to repatriate money instead of using banks and running away from employers add to the woes of the vulnerable and ill prepared.

Walking off the job isn’t an unusual response by maids working in Indonesia who get scolded by their bosses, or find family pressures to return to their village irresistible. But breaking a contract overseas can be serious. At any given time more than 200 TKI are in detention in Taiwan following breaches of their work visas.

There are 105,000 TKI in Taiwan and most are women. They’re attracted by the high wages but not all manage to repatriate their earnings. Budget management is critical; some let their earnings go to their head.

“The temptation to buy things like handphones and clothes is very great, but we have to remember why we are here,” said Kaimah. “Some women earn a lot of money but they lose it to grasping relatives or spend it. Within three months of returning home they have nothing.

“If they’d been careful they could have used the capital to start a business.”

In the absence of an independent trade union for the TKI Kaimah has become the workers’ unofficial representative. Her ability to confront issues and language fluency also led her to be recognized as an outstanding representative of her country at a big public event. This was staged by Radio Taiwan International and local companies to thank the TKI for their contribution to the economy.

Kaimah took the opportunity at the event to read an emotional and highly personal poem she’d written about the trials of long distance separation and which was published in the national press.

In it she praised the faithfulness, love, support and tolerance of her husband who she hadn’t seen for two years. He works for a catering company in Jakarta.

“It’s important that the Taiwanese recognize that we are family people who have made great sacrifices to go overseas far from our loved ones,” she said. “People who become TKI have to be strong. It is difficult.

“I’m proud to be an Indonesian but want to know why we have to export our labor and can’t provide jobs in our homeland, when the economy of other countries is so good they can employ overseas maids. Why?”

(First published in The Jakarta Post 13 September 2007)

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INDONESIAN WORKERS IN TAIWAN

Travel warning for ‘brave family fighters’ © Duncan Graham 2007

Every day a special complaints hotline set up by the Indonesian trade office in Taiwan gets about 300 hits from distressed Indonesian workers.

Around ten per cent concern serious issues, including alleged sexual assaults, physical and emotional abuse, withholding of pay and slashing of wages, bad living conditions and breaches of work contracts.

The issues are so worrying and consistent that a senior Indonesian official has called for the whole Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (TKI – Indonesian overseas labor force) system to be overhauled from the top down.

The claims were made by Ferry Yahya, head of the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei (the capital of Taiwan) at a public event in Taipei this week to raise awareness of Indonesia’s labor contribution to the Taiwan economy.

There are around 105,000 Indonesian workers in the island state, about one third of the total overseas labor force. Most are women domestic workers.

“We installed the SMS (short message service) system last year to handle concerns and it takes a huge number of hits,” Ferry said.

“We treat these complaints seriously and pass some on to the Taiwan government authorities for action. We also have three shelters for women fleeing abuse.

“But there’s also a need for the whole TKI system to be revised. This has to be done upstream.

“These people are brave fighters for their families, but they have to be better prepared back in Indonesia. They should be able to speak foreign languages, particularly English and Mandarin.

“Not all labor agencies are fair in their dealings. Some add fees and charges that aren’t in the employment contracts.

“There’s a great need for clarity and transparency in documents, with government officials scrutinizing contracts. There are regulations controlling agents but they are not being enforced. I’ve raised these issues in Jakarta. The matter is urgent.

“The situation for Indonesian workers is better in Taiwan than many other countries. The pay here is higher and there are counseling services available. But I must stress that being an overseas worker isn’t easy.”

About 200 Indonesians are in detention in Taiwan for allegedly breaking their visa conditions and running away from their employers. So far this year 13 have died from natural causes and accidents. There has been one suicide.

Ferry said language differences were at the heart of many disputes. Most Taiwanese speak Mandarin and few among the older generation speak English.

There is no independent union representing Indonesian workers in Taiwan.

At the event, staged at the studios of Radio Taiwan International (RTI), eight maids working in Taiwan were reunited with family members who flew from Indonesia to meet their relatives and celebrate Indonesia’s Independence Day.

RTI chairman Yu Cheng said his station’s Indonesian language programs were the only way workers could get information about local and international events in their native tongue.

Ferry said the event was promoted to lift awareness of Indonesian workers’ rights. “We must show employers that the TKI are human beings with strong emotional ties to Indonesia,” he said. “They’re making great sacrifices to help their families back home. They needed to be treated with respect.”

Any Prayogiati, 35, originally from Cilacap (Central Java) said she had been hit in the back by her employer when she couldn’t understand instructions. She has been in Taiwan for 18 months and works in an old people’s home handling incontinent patients.

She said she originally found the work disgusting but was prepared to keep going because she could send about Rp 5 million (US $550) home every month.

Any said she was able to attend the event only at the last minute when organizers persuaded her employer that she wouldn’t run away. If she took a day off every week her pay was deducted.

“I wasn’t paid for several months as my salary was used to repay the labor contractor’s fees,” she said.

“There are no Islamic prayer facilities so I have to use a Buddhist shrine and ask God for His forgiveness”.

Her husband Maryoko could not come to Taiwan because he is also a TKI working at a prawn farm in Malaysia.


(First published in The Sunday Post 19 August 07)


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