The Long Road Home Is a Story at Once Specific to South East Asia but Universal in the Migrant’S Tale of Loss and Hope

THE LONG ROAD HOME ROAD LONG THE This book by award-winning photographer and essayist Sim Chi Yin tells the intimate stories of Indonesian women who work overseas as domestic helpers. Some fall prey to sadistic bosses, while others are luckier and work for kind employers. But all suffer Sim the loneliness and frustrations of living THE LONG Chi far from their loved ones, unsure if their ROAD HOME Yin Journeys of Indonesian Migrant Workers sacrifices are really helping their families— and especially their children—escape their S im Chi Yin Chi im fate. Told with great sensitivity and empathy, The Long Road Home is a story at once specific to South East Asia but universal in the migrant’s tale of loss and hope. ISBN 978-92-2-124995-5 www.ilo.org 9 789221 249955 ISBN: 978-92-2-124995-5 Journeys of Indonesian Migrant Workers In memory of Alison Des Forges, who inspired with her life. And to migrant workers around the world. THE LONG ROAD HOME Copyright © 2011 Sim Chi Yin Some of the material in chapters 1 and 4 previously appeared in The Straits Times, Singapore, in March 2007. They are used here with permission. Published by International Labour Organization 4 route des Morillons, CH-1211 Genève 22, Switzerland S/B: +41 (0) 22 799 6111 F: +41 (0) 22 798 8685 E: [email protected] www.ilo.org Designed and produced by Epigram 1008 Toa Payoh North #03-08 Singapore 318996 T: +65 6292 4456 E: [email protected] www.epigram.com.sg Foreword…viii Cover design by Foo Siew Huey Introduction…x ISBN: 978-92-2-124995-5 Part I: LeavIng…4 The Long Road Home / International Labour Organization, Country Office for Indonesia and chapter one Timor-Leste.- Singapore: Epigram, 2011 [160 p] Saying Goodbye Once More…6 ISBN: 978-92-2-124995-5 (print); chapter two 978-92-2-124996-2 (web pdf) Going, Going, Gone…40 International Labour Organization, Country Office for Indonesia and Timor-Leste Part II: LIfe abroad, LIfe Left behInd…60 migrant worker / domestic worker / international chapter three migration / Singapore / Indonesia / photograph Home Away from Home…62 14.09.2 Part III: goIng hoMe…84 ILO Cataloging in Publication Data chapter four All rights reserved. No part of this publication A Place of Her Own…86 may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronics or mechanical, chapter five including photocopying, recording or by any Daughters of the Soil…106 information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the copyright owner. Acknowledgements…142 Printed in Singapore. Author’s Bio…144 INDONESIA IS THE second-largest country of However, Indonesian migrant workers, who origin of migrant workers in South East Asia are predominantly low-skilled, face considerable after the Philippines. According to estimates by challenges and hardship during the migration process, the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration both while in Indonesia and when in destination some 700,000 documented migrant workers, of countries. This is particularly true for Indonesian these 78 per cent working as domestic workers, migrant domestic workers, who often endure a leave the country each year for work abroad, lengthy and cumbersome recruitment and pre- primarily in countries in East and South East Asia departure process. Indonesian migrant domestic and the Middle East. In 2009, around 4.3 million workers are frequently charged about 33 – 50 per Indonesians were estimated to be working abroad. cent of their salaries in placement costs by recruitment If undocumented migrant workers are taken into agencies, whereas international conventions clearly account, the total number of Indonesian migrant state that employers should bear the costs of workers abroad could be 2 – 4 times higher. placement of migrant workers. In Indonesia, migrant Migration for employment entails tangible domestic workers are required to pay expensively for benefits for migrant workers and their families, placement paper work, tests and technical training, as remittances boost disposable household income yet often find themselves saddled with false passports and enable other members of the family to get an and work permits, fake tests results and sub-standard education or invest in land or household equipment. training. Furthermore they are routinely detained for months in training centres while waiting to be In most destination countries, domestic workers assistance, once the domestic workers experience and extortion by officials and agents who are well placed, unable to leave. Indonesian migrant domestic are not covered by national labour laws and problems. Furthermore, access to justice for migrant aware that many migrant workers hand-carry their workers, who are recruited at the village level and social protection provisions. As a result migrant workers is fraught with obstacles, some of which saved earnings. Migrant workers are likewise often only have few years of education, receive little or domestic workers’ salaries, working hours and work are the lengthy and costly legal procedures and the harassed and extorted by bus drivers of licensed, no information from recruitment agencies about conditions are among the worst of all workers, and difficulty of obtaining a work visa for the duration overpriced transport services which migrant workers their rights and contractual obligations. As a result migrant domestic workers often find themselves of the trial. As a result, migrant workers can at best are required to use from the airport. problems often ensue, once the domestic workers working for large families for 18 – 21 hours a day, hope for a fraction of their salaries as a “settlement”, When migrant workers finally return home, they arrive in the destination country without the requisite with limited provision for resting time and days off. whereas the alternative is years of fruitless legal are celebrated as “pahlawan devisa,” or “exchange knowledge and skills. Because they are working behind closed doors in processes which too often results in acquittal of heroes” by their families and communities. For most The Indonesian Government limits contracts for private households, they are frequently subjected to the employer. As a result, economic exploitation of families of migrant workers, the remittances are Indonesian migrant domestic workers to a maximum regular harassment, violence and rape, even murder, and violence against migrant domestic workers is their main source of household income. This also of two years, while many migrant domestic workers without any possibilities for escape, as the employer common in destination countries. means that when the migrant worker returns home, and their employers would prefer a longer contract. is authorised by law to hold their ID and confine The requirements and procedures for filing a claim the main source of household income dries up and As a result, domestic workers are required to return them in the household. under the mandatory insurance for Indonesian migrant household savings eventually run out. However, as to Indonesia and repeat all placement procedures Because of the lack of labour protection in domestic workers are cumbersome. As a result, too few income opportunities are available in migrant and payments in case of extended migration. This destination countries, migrant domestic workers are many migrant workers and their families are not workers’ communities of origin, most Indonesian two-year change of employment contracts is in frequently exploited economically and often do not able to obtain their rightful compensation for unpaid migrant workers have to return overseas for work the interest of placement agencies in Indonesia receive a major part of their contractual salaries. salary, criminal abuse, accidents or untimely death. repeatedly, in order to keep the remittances flowing and destination countries, for which it generates Indonesian embassies and consulates do not always When returning to Indonesia through Jakarta into their poor households. substantial revenue. However, this requirement have sufficient resources and manpower to monitor Soekarno-Hatta airport, Indonesian migrant workers For Indonesia, migrant workers’ remittances are deprives Indonesian domestic workers of hard- the conditions of the domestic workers in the are required to enter through the isolated terminal the second-largest source of foreign income, and earned income and adds to their indebtedness. households, or to provide adequate legal and other 4, where they are frequently subjected to harassment the primary source of income for many provinces of origin. The Indonesian Government would attention needs to be given to migrant workers’ benefit from institutionalising programmes for local vulnerabilities, which result from inadequate policy economic development which provide effective and implementation frameworks in Indonesia and access to micro-credit, financial education and destination countries. It is essential that all efforts livelihoods and entrepreneurship training for migrant are taken by these governments to ensure that workers and their families. Experiences from other migrant workers are effectively protected and fairly countries of origin, such as the Philippines and treated throughout all stages of the migratory cycle. Mexico, demonstrate that boosting productive use In 2006 ILO member states adopted the ILO of remittances in migrants’ communities of origin Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration, a has a strong positive impact on local development document which compiles international standards and poverty

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