[Kabar-indonesia] 2: Tempo Cover Story: Forgotten Migrant Workers [+Pok Ni's Plight]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

3 Tempo Magazine Cover Story Reports (2 of 2): 

- Forgotten Migrant Workers [Many migrant workers 
  living in Malaysia for years without identity papers 
  risk losing their Indonesian citizenship.]

- Pok Ni's Plight [Many poor families of Chinese origin 
  face discrimination in dealing with the authorities.]

- Interview: Nursyahbani Katjasungkana: For the past 
  15 years, she had fought for the rights of women 
  and children, including those of Indonesian women 
  married to expatriates and their children.

Tempo Magazine
No. 46/VI
July 18 - 24, 2006 

Cover Story 

Forgotten Migrant Workers 

Many migrant workers living in Malaysia for years without 
identity papers risk losing their Indonesian citizenship. 

IT'S been 11 years since 40-year-old Rosmini has been back to Malang, her 
hometown in East Java. Rosmini, a factory worker in Sungai Buloh, Selangor, had 
chosen to stay for an extended period in Malaysia. "I used to be a housemaid on 
a two-year contract in 1993," she told Tempo on Thursday last week. 

At the end of the contract, Rosmini returned to Indonesia, only to find her 
husband had married another woman. After getting a divorce, Rosmini went back 
to Malaysia, leaving her three children with her parents in the village. She 
has not returned home since. 

As a factory worker Rosmini earns RM25 (about Rp50,000) a day. In a month 
she's able to receive an equivalent of Rp1.2 million for a six-day working week, 
enough to pay for food and the rental of a 4x5-meter house. Rosmini lives 
quite comfortably with a refrigerator, a television set, a VCD player, a desk fan 
and a gas stove in the little house built of wood and plywood. 

Technically Rosmini is an illegal worker. Although in possession of a work 
permit, she has not registered with any labor supplier nor has she reported to 
the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur. "Getting the papers isn't easy, there's 
a lot of extortion, so I didn't report," she said. 

Rosmini who lost her Indonesian identity card on arrival in Malaysia has not 
applied for a replacement with the embassy. The only document identifying her 
as an Indonesian is a marriage certificate she has with her second husband, a 
fellow migrant worker from Sumbawa. 

Rosmini chose to stay despite the separation from her folks at home. "What 
else could we do? It's difficult to make a living back home, what with so little 
a salary which is unequal to the work you put in," she said. 

Although she feels at home in Malaysia, Rosmini misses her kampung. "I'm 
still an Indonesian," she said. 

Ati, a fellow worker from Lombok Tenggara in West Nusa Tenggara, has a 
similar story, having stayed in Malaysia for the same number of years as Rosmini. 
Like Rosmini, the 35-year-old went to Malaysia to work as a housemaid. She left 
her employer when her pay was withheld for months. Ati got a job in a small 
factory in the same area where Rosmini worked. Ati has no problem getting the 
necessary papers because the man she married in Malaysia is a permanent 
resident, a fellow worker from Sumbawa. 

Like Rosmini, Ati also lives in a small wood-and-plywood house with her 
husband and two children, aged 9 and 6 years old. 

Ati no longer works in a factory. She's running a nursery where mothers who 
go to work may leave their children for the day. Ati charges RM100 a month for 
each child. 

Ati planned to visit home. "My parents still live in Lombok," she said. "But 
I'm not returning to stay, what job could I and my husband get in the 
kampung?" 

With the enacting of the new citizenship law in Indonesia, Rosmini and Ati 
stand to lose their Indonesian citizenship. Under Article 23 of the law, 
Indonesians who stay overseas for five consecutive years not on official business, 
without legitimate reasons, or not confirming their desire to retain their 
Indonesian citizenship, will lose that citizenship. 

But people like Rosmini and Ati can still regain their Indonesian 
citizenship. Under Article 18 of the law, Indonesians who lose their citizenship can 
regain that citizenship after one year by decree of the court. 

"The new law clearly is not in favor of the migrant workers," said Salma 
Safitri, head of the executive board of the National Women's Solidarity Council. 
"The new law is in favor only of upper-class women married to foreigners," she 
said. 

-- Poernomo Gontha Ridho, T.H. Salengke (Malaysia) 
 
-----------------------------------

Tempo Magazine
No. 46/VI
July 18 - 24, 2006 

Cover Story 

Pok Ni's Plight 

Many poor families of Chinese origin face 
discrimination in dealing with the authorities. 

HER name is Li Pok Ni. The 42-year-old sells lemonade for a living at Kampung 
Kosambi, Tangerang. Her skin is brown and her eyes are big. Only her name 
identifies Pok Ni as an ethnic Chinese. "I was born here in this village," she 
says. "But [the village administration] always makes it difficult for me to get 
the necessary papers." Pok Ni speaks not with dismay, but with visible anger. 

Two years ago, Pok Ni wanted to get a birth certificate for her six children. 
The oldest one, just graduated from elementary education, needed the 
certificate to enroll in a junior high school. "Now everyone is required to produce a 
birth certificate to be admitted to school," says Pok Ni. To get a birth 
certificate, the parents must have a marriage certificate. Pok Ni has none. Her 
husband has no Indonesian citizenship certificate either, the SKBRI every ethnic 
Chinese family were required to possess. 

Luckily, Pok Ni was in possession of an SKBRI. Accompanied by two witnesses 
from the village administration she went to the civil registration office. But 
the registrar didn't believe her. "They didn't believe the children were mine, 
alleging they might be children smuggled from outside the country," said Pok 
Ni. 

Pok Ni got the birth certificate only after a long argument. Without a 
marriage certificate, the children were registered as children born out of wedlock. 
Since her husband was not in possession of an SKBRI, the children were forced 
to carry Pok Li's family name Li, instead of their father's Wi. "By Chinese 
tradition, the children should have carried their father's family name," said 
Pok Ni. But she didn't care. What's important, she said, the children got their 
birth certificates to go to school. 

Pok Ni is only one of thousands of ethnic Chinese living in Tangerang, known 
as Cina Benteng, who find difficulty getting birth certificates and other 
documents from the local authorities. Despite having lived in the area for 
hundreds of years and adopted Indonesian citizenship, residents of Cina Benteng 
continue to face discrimination. 

Most people at Cina Benteng live in poverty. Kampung Kosambi, where Pok Ni 
lives, is no different from a slum kampung in Jakarta. Few houses in Kosambi, 
which is located only 5 kilometers from the Soekarno-Hatta International 
Airport, are made of bricks. Most are made of wood with earthen floors. The road is 
muddy in the rain. 

About 50 families live in Kosambi, the men working mostly as ojek (motorcycle 
taxi) drivers, the women as factory workers. Some open small shops. Many of 
the womenfolk also work skinning shellfish for sale on the market, each paid 
about Rp3,000 a day. 

Not all Cina Benteng residents have an SKBRI like Pok Ni. Her neighbor Tan 
Seng Moy borrowed her SKBRI to get a birth certificate for his children. As a 
result, the children carried Pok Ni's family name Li, instead of their father's 
Tan. "I took pity on him, so I let him use my SKBRI," said Pok Ni. The 
practice of lending and borrowing a neighbor's SKBRI is common among the poor ethnic 
Chinese in Tangerang. 

Besides Cina Benteng residents, many indigenous Indonesians married to ethnic 
Chinese also face the same problem. Yuyun Hariani, an Indonesian woman 
married to a Cina Benteng resident found how difficult it was to get the birth 
certificates of her children. "They asked for all sorts of documents," said Yuyun, 
recalling her experience going back and forth to the registry office. She got 
the birth certificates for her children only after she acquired a letter from 
the village administration certifying her as an indigenous Indonesian. Since 
she could not produce a marriage certificate of her own, the children, like Pok 
Ni's, were registered as children born out of wedlock. 

Lilina, a volunteer worker from the Anti-Discrimination League, said the new 
law on Indonesian citizenship would face problems unless clear guidelines are 
set down in its implementation. Lilina, who has for the past six months been 
helping Cina Benteng families in Kampung Kosambi deal with the local 
authorities, said most of the villagers are illiterate. "If the law isn't clear in its 
implementation, it would mean nothing to the illiterate villagers," she said. 
-- Wahyu Dhyatmika 
 
----------------------------------------------------

Tempo Magazine
No. 46/VI
July 18 - 24, 2006 

Interview: Nursyahbani Katjasungkana: 
We've had enough discrimination 

NURSYAHBANI Katjasungkana was one of the happiest people at the House of 
Representatives (DPR) when the Plenary Session passed the Citizenship Bill last 
Tuesday. She was, after all, the one who submitted the proposal to amend Law No. 
62/1958 on Indonesian citizenship. For the past 15 years, she had fought for 
the rights of women and children, including those of Indonesian women married 
to expatriates and their children. 

Yet, when the issue was initially discussed in parliament, the special task 
force did not involve her. Again and again, she would meet the secretary of the 
task force, who was also Secretary of the National Awakening Party (PKB) 
faction in parliament, and asked to be included, but she was always refused. "I 
wanted to cry," she said. "I knew each aspect of every argument involving 
discrimination against minority groups, including women and children." 

It was only midway, around February, when the special task force began 
discussing about limited dual citizenship for children that she was asked to come in 
and contribute her views. The reason was trite: other PKB members were often 
absent. Belatedly, Nursyahbani nevertheless was able to provide significant 
inputs to the bill. 

On Friday last week in Yogyakarta, after attending a seminar on the Marriage 
Law, organized by the Center for the Studies of Gender and Islam, at the Sunan 
Kalijaga State Islamic Institute, Nursyahbani spoke with Tempo reporter 
Philipus Parera for an interview. Excerpts: 

As a former activist of women's rights, you must be happy about the enactment 
of the new Citizenship Law. 

Of course. I have fought for this for 15 years, since my days at the Jakarta 
Legal Aid Institute. At the time, I was handling the case of an Indonesian 
mother who had snatched her child away from her husband in the Netherlands. She 
came from Bandung.

Did she win her case? 

The Dutch court had given her custody of her child. But after she returned to 
Indonesia, she was negligent about getting a stay permit for her child. Her 
child was deported when the stay permit expired. The child was so young. At 
that time we helped by providing advice. But she fought again in the Netherlands 
and won again.

In your opinion, did this happen because the previous law did not protect the 
rights of the mother and child? 

There is an Indonesian woman married to a Pakistani. Her name is Lina. When 
their child was 9 months old, she found out that her husband was already 
married to a woman in Pakistan. She got upset. But then the husband took the child 
with him to Pakistan, because the law at that time said the child had to follow 
the father's citizenship.

So, what happened to the child? 

I asked the help of my network people in Lahore-the Women's Legal Aid Center. 
Lina then sued her husband. According to Pakistani courts, children under the 
age of 14 must be raised by the mother, so the child was returned to Lina. 
That child is now an advertising star.

The idea to revise the law was heard ages ago, but it was difficult to get it 
into parliament. How did this one slip through? 

The first time I was in the DPR two years ago, I pushed this proposal to the 
National Legislation Program [which processes proposals]. In 2005, the law was 
not classified as priority. But my colleagues from NGOs asked to present 
their policy paper at the Legislative Body, which I was a member of. Thankfully, 
some of the DPR members agreed to make it an initiative. That was the start of 
discussions. 

Which sections of the law were sharply debated in the task force? 

The issue of providing limited dual citizenship. Apparently, it's only for 
children of mixed marriages. Very narrow. Secondly, husband and wife cannot get 
dual citizenship. Pak Slamet Effendy Jusuf, head of the task force, continues 
to chide me for coming in so late. I got very upset at that. It wasn't my 
fault I couldn't join right from the beginning.

But you succeeded? 

Not immediately. By chance, members of the Melati Community of Mixed 
Marriages-they are so flamboyant, there are artists among them-only campaigned for 
dual citizenship for children of mixed marriages. Pak Oka Mahendra, representing 
the government and Pak Slamet, then said: they just asked for that, why are 
you asking for more? Only when it reached the formulators did they agree to 
expand it. 

How was it expanded? 

All children, no matter the parents' marriage status, whether they are 
adopted or illegitimate, but if they have a smidgen of Indonesian in them, can 
rightfully get Indonesian citizenship. This, I think, it's a major leap, the most 
fundamental in this Citizenship Law.

Even though this initiative was not approved by the Justice & Prosperity 
Party (PKS)? 

That's because the PKS uses Islamic law. In Islamic law, there's no such 
thing as an adopted child, so they say. Also, illegitimate children are not 
acknowledged. But this was not a debate on the Marriage Laws. This was about 
citizenship.

But at the plenary session, PKS was back to make an issue out of it, among 
others, by saying that even though they had a right to citizenship, adopted 
children and illegitimate children don't have the right to inheritance. 

The implication of an adopted child in traditional law as well as our law, is 
that they have the same right as the natural-born children. This has long 
been practiced. We are not applying the Islamic law here. We don't even have a 
law on inheritance. Muslims are given the chance to bring conflicts over 
inheritance to the religious court to resolve it through Islamic law.

Article 23 (i) and Article 26 got a lot of protests. Article 26, chapter 1, 
for instance, says that an Indonesian woman who weds an expatriate man, whose 
country requires her to follow her husband's citizenship, will lose her right 
to Indonesian citizenship. How did this clause slip through? 

I fought for this too, but failed. In order to prevent discrimination, they 
then came up with Article 26, chapter 2 which says: Indonesian men who wed an 
expatriate woman whose country requires him to follow his wife's citizenship 
will also lose his citizenship. But in all honesty, which country in this world 
requires a husband to follow his wife's citizenship? I see this as a 
non-serious clause. 

What's the argument behind the three years given to children before they 
choose their permanent citizenship at the age of 18 years? 

I proposed five years, with the argument that at that age, they would have 
completed their first phase of university schooling. If the child gets the right 
to a foreign citizenship, like German or other European countries which 
generally provide free education for their citizens-in fact, in Finland they even 
get pocket money-that would be good for the child. So, let them complete their 
schooling, don't cut it in the middle. But that kind of argument was 
unacceptable. Pak Bomer Pasaribu [of Golkar] said: just accept the three years, you can 
always haggle for another year, just compromise. So, there was no argument, 
just compromise. 

This law was renewed after 48 years. Isn't it too late? 

Yes, these changes are late. We've had enough discrimination, particularly 
our ethnic Chinese brothers and sisters. In any case, this is a step forward.

In your view, do you think the government's and the DPR's protection of women 
and children these past 10 years have been enough? 

It's been quite good. But, in my view, there are still too many regulations 
and practices that are discriminatory.

Such as? 

The problem of gender-based violence in the Criminal Code. It's not all from 
the perspective of women. For instance the case of rape. In the old Criminal 
Code, the liable party is the pimp. But in the new bill, which will be 
submitted by the government to the DPR, there is a clause that goes: homeless people 
and prostitutes roaming the streets are liable to be prosecuted. Prostitution 
in the minds of people only involves women, and only lower class women.

You were once an activist, now you're at the DPR. What's the difference? 

A lot, because what I say can have a direct impact.

So, which position is more effective? 

(Laughing) It would be more powerful if all women in the DPR had the same 
vision.
So, there are other women at the DPR who are not in sync with you? 

First, they are probably keeping quiet because they can't argue. But there 
are also others who disagree totally with me because they do not have a woman's 
perspective.

After this, what's in the agenda involving women and children? 

The law on immigration. This will be studied by the government and Commission 
III following the upcoming recess.

Specifically, what needs to be fought for in this bill? 

The right of a wife to sponsor her expatriate husband to obtain a permanent 
residence permit. Also, children who at 21 years of age must take foreign 
citizenship, should also be given the right to get a permanent resident's permit 
too. 

After seven years in politics you are no longer active in NGOs. How are your 
relations with former activist friends? 

It's true that structurally I'm no longer active. But I am never far from 
them in the sense of ideological struggle.

Sidebar: Nursyahbani Katjasungkana 

Place & Date of Birth 

Jakarta, April 7, 1955

Education 

Law Faculty, Airlangga University, Surabaya (1973-1978) 
Specialization in Criminal Law, Airlangga University, Surabaya (1979)

Career 

Member, National Awakening Party faction in DPR (2004-2009) 
Member, Golkar faction in MPR (1999-2004) 
Director, Legal Aid Institute's Association of Women for Justice 
(APIK), Jakarta (1995-1999) 
Executive Director, Women's Solidarity (1994-1995) 
Project Leader, Research on Gender and Access to Justice, 
sponsored by APWLD, Kuala Lumpur (1990-1991) 
Director, Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (1987-1990)
 
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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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