ery.djunaedy

Empowering migrant workers

Footnotes from President’s visit to the Middle East (2)

Read the first part of this article (only in Indonesian language)

Read this article in Indonesian language

Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times’ columnist, said in his best-seller book The World is Flat that the globalisation that we are in now is Globalization 3.0. The first globalization was started when Columbus set sail to find the eastern world by going west. When Columbus came back and reported that the world is round, Globalization 1.0 shrank the world from size L to M. Until 1800s, Globalization 1.0 was driven by many countries and governments who competed one another to sail the world and combining remote places into a network.

From 1800s until around the year 2000, the multinational companies took over from the government and countries to become the driving factor of the Globalization 2.0, and the world shrank further from size M to S. The headquarter and the factories of one company may be located at different countries, with employees from different nationalities. But these entities are all working to move the world econoly by working for their respective multinational corporation.

After the year 2000, globalization started to move yet in another dimension and with different pace. Geared with the widespread of internet use, Globalization 3.0 has made the playing field become level. Smaller companies - even individuals - suddenly has the same leverage as, and ready to compete with, the big corporation. In Globalization 3.0, it is these smaller players - even individuals - who becomes the driving force.

At this point, Friedman said that the world is flat, because all players are on the same level. Individuals have been empowered to compete with another individuals in another corner of the world, and even to compete with a multinational corporation.

When I read Friedman’s book, one obvious question popped out of my mind: Indonesian human resource, are they empowered? Can they compete in a flat world?

***

Spend some time to take a look at Law 39-2004 on “Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers”. Can you see “empowerment” there?

Please do not misunderstand. It was stated clearly in Law 39 that the objective of the placement and protection of Indonesian migrant workers (TKI - Tenaga Kerja Indonesia) is to “empower and utilise the work force in humane and optimum way”.

But if we read further, the Law contains nothing more than a procedure on how to do a placement and protection of TKI for various stages (pre-departure, placement, until they return to Indonesia). The procedure is so complicated that the only thing that we can imagine is the high cost that is usually associated with such procedure.

The question remains: where is the empowerment?

What Law 39 does is formal procedural empowerment. The underlying (but not mentioned) assumption is that with a complete set of documentations (especially the employment contract) and by following a formal procedure, then the TKI will be empowered, especially against fraud and physical abuses.

For me, this is a deceptive empowerment. It looks empowering, but in reality it does not change anything. The reason is that even if the TKI has a complete set of documentation, this will not change how the employer will treat the TKI. The employer (at least in the UAE) is required to submit a copy of the contract to the Immigration Authority in the UAE, but that does not refrain them from cheating and abusing the TKI. If now the TKI also holds the copy of the contract, it will not make any difference.

The best the TKI can do with the new situation is that if anything happens is to file a lawsuit to the court. So what will they get? The best they can get is the unpaid salary, some compensation (if any), but still they have to be deported back to Indonesia. And back to square one.

There is a fundamental difference between Friedman and Law 39 even though they both uses the same word “to empower”. Law 39 stops at the formal procedural empowerment, while Friedman uses it down the core (essential) meaning in context of human resource quality.

In the context of Middle East, how the employer treat the TKI can only be changed if there is an improvement in the quality of the human resource from Indonesia, not procedural empowerment a la Law 39.

Just compare how Indonesian maid and her Filipino colleague is treated. Both may have the same complete set of documentation, but the treatment from the employer can be different. As per contract, Indonesian maid will have 800 dirhams per month at the minimum pay, while the Filipino will be given slightly higher salary. The Indonesian maid will work day and night without any day off, while the Filipino maid will demand working hours and at least one day off per week. If there is any problem, the Filipino main will be relatively more protected from physical abuse compared to the Indonesian maid.

And if the situation becomes unbearable, they both can opt to escape. Their fate is even more contrast as the runaway labor. The Indonesian maid will get 600-700 dirhams per month, while the Filipino main will get 800-1000 dirhams per month.

We will of course ask the question, why the local Arabs pay the Filipino maid a higher salary? Of course it is not about a complete documentation or a correct procedure. The most important thing is the human resource quality.

The Filipino maid does not need any training to use electric appliances (washing machine, dish washer, microwave oven, etc). The Indonesian maid will still push the wrong button even after laborious training from the employer. The Filipino can clean the house with hotel standard, while the Indonesian main will still expect to be given a cloth to wipe the floor.

Only with the increased quality that the TKI can be empowered, not by a formal procedural approach.

***

This big issue was missing during the visit of President SBY to the Middle East. The discussions during the visit were about urgent problems, like how to repatriate hundreds of runaway maids currently stay in the Indonesian Embassies all over the Middle East. These urgent issues overshadowed the strategic issue: how can we empower our TKI?

There are at least three things that can be done by the government.

Firstly, ban the Indonesian ladies to work as maid in foreign contries. From all of Indonesian labour problems, 90% of them are related to Indonesian maids that are working outside Indonesia, and these problems actually absorb all of the governments energy that they cannot really do much on the strategic issues. Banning this will immediately reduce the migrant workers problems, so that the government can focus on more strategic issues.

The maid is a position without any qualification. Even if the Indonesian government introduced a more dignified term (i.e. Penata Laksana Rumah Tangga - Household manager), the maid’s position remains the worse of all available positions that has no bargaining position at all.

Furthermore, there is an issue of dignity. The Arabs will always see Indonesian ladies as “cheap” because we allow our ladies to work as maids. How can a muslim nation allow their fellow muslim ladies to work within the household of another man’s family? The household of an Arab is actually a private place for them, where they keep their ladies away from the sight of other men. To see a foreign muslim woman working in such a private place, their cultural view would see these sight in a degrading sight, unworthy of respect and protection. Their position in the Arabs cultural settings would be slightly higher than slaves (this is only because slavery is already banned, otherwise they will see them as slaves).

Secondly, we need to focus on jobs that require a qualification, however trivial the qualification might be. A position as a driver has a much better bargaining position compared to maids.

When we were first come to UAE and met by the university driver at the airport, the Human Resource Dept told us not to ask the driver to carry our luggage, because he is a “driver”, not a “porter”. So there I was, the professor, sweating under the desert sun struggling to haul our big luggage, while he, the driver, watched from his driver’s seat in the cool bus.

Nowadays, many Filipino ladies work as drivers, specially hired to drive the wive and children of the employer. If they can fill in this position, why not Indonesian ladies?

Not only driver, there are a lot many more job opportunities that require a certain qualification. Opportunities that are now seized by the Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Indians, and Filipino. The jobs as nurse, technician, factory operator, etc, are the areas where Indonesians should be able to compete.

Thirly, deregulate the employment agencies (PJTKI). The recruitment pattern as described in Law 39 is very primitive. Nowadays, it only applies for blue-collar jobs. For skilled workers, the recruitment process will only slow down the mobility of our TKI to compete.

All “independent TKI” (those who can get a job without the employment agency) got their jobs in either of these two ways: (1) applying directly to the company, and (2) referred to a company by a personal reference.

Law 39 explicitly ban individuals from acting as a employment agency. This very rule actually denies the reality of modern recruitment process, where personal reference (paid or unpaid) were given more weight in the recruitment. With a proper reference, An engineer or a consultant will move between companies (in different countries) only by a single phone call.

These personal references is not accommodated in Law 39. That is why the government need to update the regulations on the employment agencies to reflect the current trend in recruitment world.

***

It was a pity that these important topics were out of the media coverage when President SBY visited the Middle East earlier this month. Hopefully these footnotes can help the government to set the right priority in the labor policy in this globalized flat world.