Other exploitation involving migrant workers is found in the agricultural/plantation sector, generally at national borders. The sector requires large number of low-paid workers. To earn more, parents often ask or force their children to also work in the plantations. Children who are supposed to go to school and enjoy their childhood must work to help to provide for their families. In general, employers in the agricultural sector do not want to deal with the bureaucratic hassle of obtaining work permits for their workers. As a result, they are not protected by labor laws and their basic rights are often neglected.
Exploitation is also experienced by workers in the manufacturing and construction sector. Apart from low wages, they are often exposed to appalling work conditions, which may include work place with poor sanitation, working in a stuffy, dark or cramped space or working with unsafe machines or equipment.
Human traffickers are motivated by huge profits. They do not work alone but part of a syndicate. This organized criminal network often recruits migrant workers through family members, close friends, neighbors, village chiefs, even unscrupulous government officials (oknum).
When the author was in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) in March and early April, she found a civil servant who received Rp3 million to Rp4 million per one migrant worker successfully recruited. One of the victims of human trafficking that the author met, Mira (not her real name), admitted that during the six months she was working in Malaysia she did not get paid at all. Her employer told her that her salary was cut because they had to cover the costs of her recruitment to the agent. Not only that, because of high demand and motivation to make more profits, Mira was asked by her employer and her agent to coax her friends in the village to also work in Malaysia. If she manages to recruit one worker she will get Rp2 million in commission. Mira revealed that the company is officially registered but does not follow the proper procedure in the recruitment process.
On another occasion, when the author provided training for female migrant workers in West Kalimantan in February 2023, she met with Sari (not her real name), a victim of human trafficking. Sari recounted that seven years prior she was told by her recruiter to mention certain code or name when going through the immigration checkpoint at the Indonesia-Malaysia border.
After crossing the border with ease, Sari worked in Malaysia for seven years but she admitted that during that time she was feeling very miserable. “I worked at the house of local head of samseng (Malaysian gangster/thug). I was often tortured and treated like I am worthless. They would hit me for no obvious reason, set their guard dog on me. It was so cruel. It was so difficult to find me in Malaysia even though my parents had reported that they could not contact me two years on. I felt trapped, helpless,” said Sari.
The cases in NTT and West Kalimantan show that human trafficking is enabled by the involvement of many parties, including wayward officials. This is why it is so difficult to root out, with no significant progress made so far.