Migrant Workers Survive Amid Uncertainty

The Covid-19 pandemic has put migrant workers in a difficult situation. International borders have not yet reopened, while jobs at home are very limited.

KOMPAS/COKORDA YUDISTIRA

The Covid-19 pandemic has an impact on work opportunities and the departure of Indonesian workers abroad. Service activities for prospective migrant workers at the Bali Regional UPT BP2MI Office in Denpasar City, Bali, Friday (11/3/2022)..

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, millions of migrant workers around the world have lost their jobs, including migrant workers from Indonesia. Some have been lucky enough to be able to return to their hometowns, but many have been unable to return home because of restrictions in the countries where they reside.

Even for those who have returned home, this does not mean that there have no problems. They face equally formidable challenges in the lack of jobs and incomes to support their families, who usually live on the remittances they used to send.

Migrant Care executive director Wahyu Susilo said that the Covid-19 pandemic had almost put a complete stop to sending migrant workers abroad due to restrictive mobility policies, the closure of international borders and quarantines. This situation had reduced the global volume of foreign remittances, including to Indonesia. Migrant workers were also vulnerable due to rising anti-migrant sentiment and stigmatization as carriers of the coronavirus.

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"The most vulnerable are Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, who have been living on donations from others until now," he said.

Due to the uncertain situation during the Covid-19 pandemic, Wahyu continued, Migrant Care data showed that around 176,000 Indonesian migrant workers had repatriated in the first year of the pandemic. Meanwhile, data from the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) showed the higher figure of 283,640 Indonesian migrant workers who had repatriated in 2020.

Migrant workers who worked as domestic workers were the most vulnerable during the pandemic, because they must constantly work overtime and had extra work to do because the whole family was at home during the mobility restrictions.

kris mada

Indonesian migrant workers' activities in Hong Kong are as usual at Victoria Square, Sunday (18/8/2019)..

Inul, an Indonesian migrant worker in Singapore, said that many of her peers had to return home because their employers had lost their jobs. They were told to choose between going back to Indonesia or find a new placement. Luckily, the business of Inul’s employer had not been disrupted by the pandemic, so she was still employed. Even so, she could not leave the house at all during the pandemic.

“During the lockdown, it was like living in a prison. Every day [I stayed] at home, [I was] not allowed to go out at all. My cooking duties also increased up to twice day. It felt like I had to keep working because everyone was at home.

“However, my boss is good. I can take Sunday off if I want, but if I worked, I would be given Rp 300,000 overtime. So, I just choose to work because I'm not going anywhere," Inul said when contacted during her lunch break.

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However, not all migrant workers were as lucky as Inul. Many of them have been victims of middlemen in Indonesia. One case involving reckless middlemen was the case of 29 citizens from Bali that became victims of fraud and were abandoned in Istanbul, Turkey. The Indonesian authorities in Turkey have been handling the case since February 2022.

Of the 29 migrant workers, five people have returned to Bali, 16 have been evacuated by the Indonesian Consulate General in Istanbul from illegal shelters to temporary shelters at the consulate general, and eight others were working illegally in several Turkish cities. Indonesian Ambassador to Turkey Lalu M. Iqbal emphasized that those who had fled to Bali or remained in Turkey would be punished.

Based on the available information, the 29 citizens had been promised jobs with high salaries in Turkey that were legal and came with decent housing. The workers were asked to pay between Rp 25 million and Rp 40 million, and departed on tourist visas. After several months in Turkey, they had not been given the promised jobs, were not granted work permits and were in poor condition. "Most of them have overstayed their visas and do not have work permits," said Indonesian Consul General Imam Asari in Istanbul.

Humas Bandara Juanda

A total of 149 migrant workers from Brunei Darussalam arrived at Juanda Airport, Monday (31/1/2022)..

Cases involving individuals who use fraud or illegally transport Indonesian migrant workers to Turkey have increased over the last two years. This is because it has become increasingly difficult to find jobs in Indonesia since the Covid-19 pandemic and because it is easy for Indonesian citizens to travel to Turkey.

Contacted separately, the Manpower Ministry’s director general of manpower placement, job development and expansion, Suhartono, said that to date, there was no certainty as to when the destination countries of Indonesian migrant workers, such as Malaysia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, might reopen.

Protecting migrant workers is a major concern.

He emphasized that the government intended to first ensure that the destination country had adequate regulations on migrant workers. The government would also first fix the memorandums of understanding it had with a number of countries on employment and protection, especially regarding informal migrant workers.

"We are currently discussing this with Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam. We will do the same with several Middle Eastern countries. Protecting migrant workers is a major concern,” said Suhartono.

Global situation

The Conditions of Work and Employment Programme director at the United Nations’ International Labor Organization (ILO), Manuela Tomei, said that the current situation among migrant workers had the potential to become a crisis within a crisis. This was because migrant workers had to return home at a time when their country was struggling with a sluggish economy and rising unemployment.

The ILO’s Labour Migration Branch chief, Michelle Leighton, said that in Nepal, for example, there were 500,000 migrant workers who would lose their jobs due to Covid-19 and return home. The majority were from the Middle East and Malaysia.

India had even repatriated about 220,000 of its migrant workers from the Gulf countries. Meanwhile, around 250,000 workers had returned home to Bangladesh, 100,000 workers to Myanmar, and 200,000-500,000 workers would return to Ethiopia. They typically worked in the health care, transportation and other service sectors, as well as in agriculture and as domestic workers.

The ILO is encouraging the migrant workers’ countries of origin to provide social protection programs and integrate migrant workers into the national labor market. (AFP/REUTERS)

This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswo.