{"id":10147,"date":"2011-08-30T03:08:32","date_gmt":"2011-08-30T03:08:32","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-08-30T03:08:32","modified_gmt":"2011-08-30T03:08:32","slug":"Indonesia-targets-maid-agencies-with-underaged-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=10147","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia targets maid agencies with underaged workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dewi was only 17 years old when she left Indonesia to work in Singapore as a maid, that is six years below the legal age in Singapore.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She found it hard to cope with her chores, and eventually it all fell to pieces. After being scolded and beaten by her employers, she fled to a shelter for troubled migrant workers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Dewi said:<\/strong> “(My employer) asked me to come closer to her and I was shocked when she started to slap me…I think perhaps if I’m older, I could prevent my employer from abusing me.”<\/p>\n

The business of sending Indonesian girls abroad to work as domestic helpers is a money-spinner – worth some US$700 million a year.<\/strong> Some 15 to 20 per cent of these girls are underaged and they get the help of sponsors who forge their work documents.<\/p>\n

Professional forgers digitally alter passports and work permits for underage girls.<\/strong> This is a widespread practice, which authorities have found difficult to crack down on.<\/p>\n

Armed with fake documents, the girls are then sent to a maid agency, or PT as they are called in Indonesia, to learn domestic skills and wait their turn to go abroad.<\/p>\n

Dita Sari, a special staff with the Ministry of Labour in Indonesia, said:<\/strong> “We are trying really hard right now to make sure that first, there’s awareness and understanding by the local people not to manipulate the age. Every time we receive a report that this PT is manipulating the age, then we call the PT to come (down) and we will investigate.”<\/p>\n

The government said it is likely to shut down more than half of the 565 PTs currently operating in Indonesia after it completes its nationwide investigation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maid agencies in host countries like Singapore are also aggrieved as they face stiff penalties for having underage maids.<\/strong> Many of them travel to Indonesia to interview the girls and verify their age.<\/p>\n

Benny Liew, Director of Comfort Maid services, said: “(It is) due to no fault of ours and we are being penalized…there is no way we can judge, you know, from their looks, whether they are really underage or not.”<\/p>\n

Indonesia is strengthening its laws to give local governments more enforcement powers on the industry<\/strong> but given the complex nature of the problem, that could only be the first step.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a>
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