Not only do many Indonesian domestic help workers (TKI) face inhumane treatment and conditions when they work abroad, many of them are also exploited before they can even leave Indonesia in search of work.
Early this morning, a combined task force consisting of National Police officers, Ombudsman, and the Agency of Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) raided a TKI shelter in the Pondok Gede district of Bekasi, which was found to be illegally housing workers desperate for work abroad.
The shelter, which was run by an overseas placement company called PT Safarindo Insan Corpora, broke several laws relating to TKI such as keeping some of them in the shelter for up to 8 months and not giving the workers any indication of when they would be sent abroad. Those who wanted to leave the shelter reportedly had to pay a fine of Rp 7.5 million.
“And another thing, while they were here, the TKI were only given two meals [a day], and the living conditions in the shelter were below par,” said Ombudsman officer Ninik Rahayu at the scene, as quoted by Vivanews.
43 workers were made to stay in the shelter when it was raided. Five of them were men.
It’s not yet known what criminal charges will be given to the owners of the shelter.
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