Semunjan,
We made
a few more rounds on what looked like same roads, and stopped several people to
ask for directions. But it may have been sheer luck that we were able to
finally reach our destination: a small
hut with walls of plywood and galvanized iron. It happened to be at the
and of the plantation and close to a lush forest.
Some
people were relaxing in front of the hut. They looked worried when we
approached, and most stayed silent ever after I introduce myself as a
journalist from Indonesia .
But one of them immediately piped up upon learning where I was. “You came from Indonesia ?”
said the wiry man who we shall call Mardi. “I came from Indonesia , too, from Kapuas Hulu (in West Kalimantan ). But I haven’t been home for a long
time.”
He said
he was a harvester at the plantation. Sometimes, he said, he would also cut the
weeds or apply fertilizer on the plants.
Mardi
was actually what the Malaysians call an “orang kosong” or a person without documents. So was several of the
people living in the hut, which was why it was where it was—hard to find, with
a natural backdoor that could hide people who wanted (and needed) to be
suddenly invisible. According to some estimates, some two million foreign
workers in Malaysia
are without proper paper, many of them Indonesians.
“Malaysian
prefer to do other jobs rather than work oil-palm plantation,” Ong had told me
in Kuala Lumpur ,
where he is based. “The reason are the low salary and the heavy workload.”
Shafinaz
Suhaimi, a programme officer at the human-right group Tenaganita, also said
that palm-oil workers often have to deal with health and safety issues. “There
are some plantations that already provide all (the worker’s needs, such as
clean water and housing), she said, “but still a lot do not fulfill the rights
of the workers.”
On
pointed out as well that many of the oil-palm plantations were in remote areas.
“Imagine if something happened to (the wokers),” said the bespectacled
activist. “Often they do not receive the necessary protection.”
Our
driver Maszlan, who is a resident of the area, put it more simple: “This place
is not healthy.”
According
to Human Right Watch-Asia Deputy Director Phil Robertson, the main problem of
labour in Malaysia
is the absence of a national minimum
salary. A worker’s wage, he noted, is determined by the market; essentially,
that means business owners can give any amount as salary as they see fit.
“Very
often, the workers receive wages below standard,” Robertson said. “Even Cambodia has a minimum salary, but why not Malaysia ”
what’s with the Malaysian government? I think all related to money. They are
able to have low-paid workers (and) that is beneficial to them (only).”
To
Robertson, this is dangerous since he said it could lead to human trafficking.
But while he suggested that Indonesia
convince Malaysia
to have a minimum salary, he also said that members of ASEAN consider the issue
together and came up with a common plan to protect workers, including
non-locals. Indonesia , after
all, is not the only country within the region to have millions of citizens
working abroad – hundreds of thousands of them in ASEAN
country like Malaysia , Singapore , and Brunei . So do the Philippines and Burma .
It’s no
secret that ASEAN has the ill repute of being a paper tiger. Still, some
Southeast Asian observers have taken heart now that the regional grouping has
been moving towards creating what it says would be an “ASEAN Community” by
2015. The establishment last year of an ASEAN human-rights body has also
boosted hopes that the group is finally on its way to addressing rights concern
– including those affecting labour – aside from economic, cultural, and security
issues.
The
prospect that these two developments offer regarding concerns that used to be
overlooked by ASEAN have even excited Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Dai
Bahtiar, who says that the ASEAN Community would certainly “lead to a better
direction”. He told this writer in an interview that Indonesia would contribute actively
to this community. “With the ASEAN community, each country needs to collaborate
in solving problems of migrant workers,” said the diplomat. “We want to
implement that.”
ASEAN,
however, has always been slow-moving in the times that it design to move at
all. Dai Bahtiar himself concedes, “We face so many challenges because this os
related to the political and economic conditions of each country. For example,
in terms of providing a decent wage for migrant workers, we still continue to
urge the Malaysian Government to perform various (reforms). We urge minimum
wage standards for Indonesian migrant workers, but Malaysia (has yet to set these).”
He said
that the Malaysian and Indonesian Government had been working on updating a
2006 Memorandum of Understanding that dealt specifically with Indonesians
working in Malaysian plantations. “But later,” he said, “Malaysia should
protect each migrant worker (here).”
That is
especially considering the contribution of migrant workers to Malaysia ’s
economy. According to Alex Ong, during the 1998 financial crisis, the oil-palm
plantation was one of the sector that was able to survive and rescue Malaysia . Until
now Malaysia ’s
economy is developing fast. Roads have been widened. High-rise building are
appearing everywhere. “In this success, the role of Indonesian (and other
foreign) workers should not be forgotten.”
To be
fair, Human Rights Watch has noted that the Malaysian Ministry of Human
Resources has been studying a suggested minimum-wage mecanisme for private
sector. The international rights watchdog also says that the Malaysian Trade
Union Congress is pushing for the implementation of a minimum monthly salary of
900 ringgit (about $266). Interetingly, Human Rights Watch says as well that
the Malaysian government considers those with montly incomes of 750 ringgit
($222) as falling below the national poverty line.
At the
oil-palm plantations, the work can be backbreaking. There is still morning dew
when the laboures leave their camps and head for work. On one particular
morning, I followed two men who were set to harvest fruits. One of them lugged
a long wooden stick that had one end connected to a sharp tool. The other
worker brought a cart to put the fruit in.
The two
men divided the task: the older one was
to cut the braches with oil-palm fruits and the younger one was to
collect them. One by one the fruit branches fell. At one point, the skinny
younger man lifted and put a branch bigger than his body in designated
collecting area. His face and shirt were bathed with sweat. They were busy from
Monday to Saturday. They returned to their camps only at sundown.
By
working for eight hour, each worker receives the equivalent of 45. They get a
bonus if they work more and fulfill the
target set by plantation owner. “If we work diligently, our wages will be
higher,” said the older worker. “If we are lazy, we do not get any money.”
Some
activists say such wages are pretty low. Tenaganita’s Shafinaz commented, ”
There are still workers who are paid less than 10 ringgit (about $3). Working
the whole day with a heavy work load, they should get more appropriate wages.”
That
could be why many plantation workers here find it hard to save money. Daner
Adinugutunis, who has been hard work at the plantation here for the last five
years, admitted that he has yet to be able to send money home to Indonesia. “I
very much want to send money but, up to now, I haven’t saved any,” he said.
“The work here is very hard, but my salary is not enough. All the money is
spent for food. I just hope that my parents and family are healthy back home.”
He had
just sent a text message to his mother back in his home country saying that he
would not able to go home this year: She has kept on asking him the same question since he decided to
work here. “Maybe two or three more years before I can go home,” Said Daner as
he slipped his cell phone into his pants’ pocket.
He did
not seem worried that foreign plantation workers allowed to stay in Malaysia
for a maximum of only five years, which means his time here is almost up.
Should he insist on staying, he may have to learn how to dodge authorities like
what his colleagues who are here illegally have been doing. Getting caught
without papers can mean jail time, whipping, and deportation.
One
young illegal worker said he had perfected a system that has helped him avoid
being arrested by local authorities. “If I do not have have any important
business to do,” he said, “I will not go out of the plantation. Day by day I
stay in the plantation. In case I have to go out, I have to be alert. I cannot
go too far.”
So far,
he has lasted four years here without getting in trouble with the law. What if
someone gets sick? I asked. “Just treat him inside the camp,” the worker
replied. “If he is brought to the hospital, he could possibly be arrested by
the police.”
Mardi
who was the first to speak up and had offered greatings when we first came to
the plantation, indicated that what he has gone through in this country in the
pas four years was not what he had expected. He said that at the first, he had not been interested to go
to Malaysia, but a friend had helped change his mind. Recounted Mardi: “He said
that the wage was good and the work pleasant. I thought about it for two days.
Finally, I dicided to go, more since I did not have any work in my village.”
He was
only 16 years old at the time. Together with several friends, he entered
Malaysia on food, traveling for one day through forest, climbing hills and
passing through tiny paths. He said there were no guards at the border and that
they had no problems crossing over.
I would
later see for myself just how easy it is to get up into Malaysia from
Indonesia, when I rode an inter-country bus headed for Kuching, Malaysia and
that passed Entikong in West Kalimantan. Only a few of us were tourists; more
of the passengers were apparently hoping to work in Malaysia.
By some
coincidences, my bus seatmate turned out to be a recruiter of illegal workers.
At the Entikong border, I watched as she collected her recruits’ passports and
passed them on to a waiting gentleman. She told me later that she often gave
money to police and immigration officers so that her clients could pass through
without a hitch.
She also
said that every month, she would bring some 10 to 15 Indonesians to various
places in Malaysia like Bintulu, Miri, Sabah, and Sarawak. “I have already a
lot of contact there,” she said with a hint of pride. “If they need workers, I
immediately supply them.”
Perhaps
she had told her recruits the same things Mardi had heard from his friend. Of
course I had also seen satisfied migrant workers in at least one plantation
that was about three hours from Kuala Lumpur. There, the employees’ quarters
had beds, bathrooms, and entertainment facilities, and the workers said they
were paid adequately. But here in the Malaysian hinterlands, the opposite was
being experienced by Mardi, Daner, and their fellow workers.
“Actually,
I regret coming here,” said Daner. “But, never mind, since I am already here, I
will just keep on working. Hopefully, within the next two years, I will have
good fortune.”
(This
article has published by Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) in the book
titled: A Quest for Community: The ASEAN Dilemma)
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