INDONESIA RAMPS UP EFFORT TO PROTECT MIGRANT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 002641

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EAP/MTS, EAP/RSP, G/TIP, DRL/PHD, DRL/IL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/17/2007
TAGS: PGOV PREL ELAB KWMN PHUM ID MY
SUBJECT: INDONESIA RAMPS UP EFFORT TO PROTECT MIGRANT
WORKERS

REF: A) JAKARTA 2627 B) JAKARTA 1130 C) SURABAYA 34

D) JAKARTA 2007

Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4 (b)(d).


1. (U) This message was coordinated with Embassy Kuala
Lumpur.

Summary
=-=-=-=

2. (C) Heightened concern over the trafficking of Indonesian
workers abroad has sparked the GOI to play a newly aggressive
role in the protection of victims. The media has spotlighted
numerous cases of abuse of workers abroad (ref A),and
Parliament and watchdogs are scrutinizing protection efforts.
On the downside, two government labor bodies responsible for
protecting migrant workers continue to be generally
unresponsive. As long as an effective protection regime is
not in place, the concerted national agenda of exporting
Indonesian laborers abroad will overwhelm and undermine
current anti-trafficking efforts. End Summary.

A New Hard-line
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

3. (SBU) Indonesia has been increasingly aggressive in
protecting the rights of its migrant workers since President
Yudhoyono signed a tough new anti-trafficking law in April
2007 (ref B). Yudhoyono set the new proactive tone when he
visited Malaysia in June, meeting with Indonesian migrant
workers, and then ordering the Indonesian Embassy to fly a
planeload of trafficking victims back to Indonesia at GOI
expense, according to the International Organization for
Migration (IOM). Since that time, the GOI has paid for about
half the cost of repatriating victims by air, IOM told
Labatt. (Note: Previously, IOM paid for the entire cost.
The IOM rehabilitation and recovery program is entirely USG
funded.)


4. (SBU) Minister of Manpower Erman Suparno has also played
a more visible role of late. He visited Kuala Lumpur in
recently to meet with Indonesian migrant workers and again in
early September to reopen talks on a controversial MOU
between Indonesia and Malaysia regarding recruitment and
placement of Indonesian domestic workers. Suparno told the
media that he has revoked the licenses of 107 labor supply
companies and dismissed seven staff for corruption.
Nevertheless, NGOs told Labatt that they still regard the
Manpower Ministry as basically apathetic and prone to
corruption.

Police Step it Up
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

5. (C) Police also have stepped up operations against
traffickers since the anti-trafficking law passed, according
to the head of the Indonesian National Police (INP)
anti-trafficking unit, Anton Charlyan. He told Labatt that
"Operation Flower" has resulted in breaking up trafficking
networks through arrests of both Indonesians and foreign
traffickers, shutting down illicit labor supply companies,
and arresting immigration and other officials complicit in
trafficking. The operation is applying the new
anti-trafficking law for many of the arrests (ref C). The
operation also has targeted international trafficking rings
using Indonesia as a transit point, he asserted, and the INP
is carrying out undercover sting operations against senior
corrupt officials (See septel). (Note: The police involved
in these operations have all received USG training on
trafficking investigations.)


6. (C) Still, in an effort to ensure a constant flow of
income for migrant laborers and to alleviate unemployment,
Indonesia has found itself in a difficult position. One
major impediment to better protection of Indonesian workers
is the 2006 MOU between Indonesia and Malaysia on Indonesian
domestic workers. The MOU essentially ceded many Indonesian
workers' rights to Malaysian employers. Among the clauses in
the MOU is the right of Malaysian employers to hold the
passports of their Indonesian domestic employees. (ref D).
At the GOI's request, the two governments met again in
Surabaya in June to discuss the current MOU and other issues.
Head of the Malaysian delegation, Home Affairs Secretary
General Aseh Che Mat, took a hard stance, refusing to talk
about renegotiating the section of the MOU regarding
passports. Teguh Wardoyo, the Foreign Ministry's Director for

JAKARTA 00002641 002 OF 002


Protection of Overseas Workers Abroad, told Labatt. "The
results with Malaysia were disappointing and discouraging,"
he said. Meanwhile, the lead negotiator for the Indonesians,
I Gusti Made Arka, Manpower Ministry's Director General
Overseas Employment Services, was passive during the talks,
according to an NGO activist at the meeting.

Taking a Stand
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

7. (C) Teguh, former Consul General in Washington, has been
active in protecting migrant workers since taking his post
several months ago -- "I am alone, working against the
mainstream," he told Labatt, talking openly about the
corruption and complacency he believes is pervasive among
both Indonesian and Malaysian officials. He claims that
senior Malaysian officials and elites have a vested interest
in the current system because they benefit from the Malaysian
employment agencies that import workers. (Note: On the
other hand, Teguh was not helpful when, following Labatt's
meeting with him, he misrepresented to the media the
circumstances of Indonesian workers in Iraq.)


8. (C) The National Agency for the Placement and Protection
of Indonesia Overseas Workers (BNP2TKI),which once showed
promise, has largely neglected the protection part of its
mandate due to understaffing and emphasis on exporting more
labor. During a recent meeting with Labatt, the agency's
head Jumhur Hidayat complained about police raids on
employment agencies, saying workers under age 21 and as young
as age 15 should be allowed to work abroad legally, and that
falsification of documents is justified to allow younger
workers to go overseas. He said there is nothing more he can
do to prompt action on the MOU with Malaysia or to advocate
on abuse cases, except to stop export of Indonesian workers
for several months, a draconian step (but which he almost
certainly does not have the political clout to see through).

Trumping Protection
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

9. (C) Hidayat, like many national and local Indonesian
government officials, is primarily focused on exporting more
Indonesian workers. BNP2TKI has begun to open up job marts
at the local level, working through local governments to
recruit workers and place them with labor export agents but
otherwise is using the same system that Hidayat had promised
to reform. Migrant Care Executive Director Anis Hidayah said
BNP2TKI is allowing the expansion of the overall number of
labor supply agencies while ignoring requests by Migrant Care
to shut down the ones which Migrant Care has documented as
disreputable.


10. (SBU) The Anti-Corruption Commission announced August 28
that it is investigating bribery by various officials who
process documents for workers going overseas. Also,
Parliament has called both Hidayat and Made Arka to testify
on their apparent lack of action to protect workers abroad.


11. (C) The trend in fighting trafficking in Indonesia
remains positive, with the new anti-trafficking law already
being enforced and police greatly stepping up actions.
Appointment of officials such as Teguh at the foreign
ministry also is very heartening because he is in position to
encourage reform in parts of the government. Actions by NGOs
and anti-corruption watchdogs are promoting reform.
Nevertheless, efforts to reform agencies with vested
financial interests will be difficult to initiate. Despite
the reform-minded policies of the Yudhoyono administration,
the concerted national agenda of exporting more and more
Indonesian laborers continues to perpetuate abuse and
undermine the nation's overall anti-trafficking program, as
long as an effective protection regime is not yet in place.
HUME