Malaysian Employers Puzzled by Indonesia's New Rule on Live-In Maids

Jakarta Globe, June 01, 2016

Indonesian maids relaxing on their day off in Victoria Park, Hong Kong in this
 November 2012 file photo. In the wake of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's
move to step up protection of Indonesian domestic workers abroad, several
 of the affected countries have been trying to resolve issues of employer
responsibilities and maid's welfare. (JG Photo/Jurnasyanto Sukarno)

Jakarta. In the wake of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's move to step up protection of Indonesian domestic workers abroad, several of the affected countries have been trying to resolve issues of employer responsibilities and maids' welfare.

Last month, Indonesia announced a ruling that will stop women from working as live-in maids in foreign countries, including Malaysia. The new ruling also requires domestic workers abroad to enter into formal contracts with their employers.

"Once the maids become formal workers, their employers will no longer have to take care of their lodgings, security and other things. They have to take care of all their expenses [themselves], and whatever happens to them has nothing to do with their employers," Malaysian Maid Employers Association president Engku Ahmad Fauzi Engku Muhsein, as reported by Malaysian news outlet Bernama on Wednesday (01/06).

He added that if the domestic help sector was formalized, the current high recruitment costs for maids must be lowered.

According to the report, the government has set recruitment costs for Indonesian maids at 7,800 ringgit ($1,800), but agents have been charging employers as high as 12,000 ringgit, with an additional annual levy of 600 ringgit and a medical examination costing 100 ringgit.

Datuk Raja Zulkepley Dahalan, president of the Malaysian National Association of Employment Agencies (Pikap), meanwhile stated that the plan would have social implications and cause more complications between the two countries.

He suggested that the government should consider only allowing 50 to 100 reliable and financially strong agencies to control the hiring process. According to him, these agencies would be able to provide housing and other services for the domestic workers.

"I understand that around 350,000 employment agencies are registered with the government, while there are another 27,000 that are unregistered. These agencies should be responsible for the welfare of the maids as they have the capacity to provide them with the maximum protection," the Pikap president told Bernama.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng also stated that the plan would affect the Malaysian economy, as it could force many women out of the workforce, or even result in men having to become stay-at-home dads.

"In many households, both parents work so they need live-in maids to help them. So without live-in maids, it will only force the women to leave the workforce and stay home," the minister told the Malaymail Online news outlet last month.

According to Migrant Care data, there were 6,5 million Indonesians working abroad in 2014, with 2,5 million of them employed in Malaysia mainly as maids, construction workers and laborers.

Asean Establishes Landmark Economic and Security Bloc

Jakarta Globe, Trinna Leong, November 22, 2015

Asean leaders joined China's Premier Li Keqiang at the summit in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. (AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)

Kuala Lumpur. Southeast Asian nations on Sunday established a formal community that attempts to create freer movement of trade and capital in an area of 625 million people with a combined economic output of $2.6 trillion.

The community declaration was signed by leaders of the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Kuala Lumpur, this year's host of the group's annual summit.

Twelve years in the making, the Asean community is a landmark in the 48-year history of a group founded at the height of the Cold War as an anti-communist bulwark.

The Asean Community includes a political, security and socio-cultural dimension in a region with governments ranging from communist in Vietnam and quasi-military in Myanmar to the kingdom of Brunei and the boisterous democracy of the Philippines.

But it is the economic community that offers the most concrete opportunities for integration in a region whose combined gross domestic product (GDP) would make it the world's seventh-largest economy.

In practice, Asean has already virtually eliminated tariff barriers among the 10 countries, said Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, the summit host, at the signing ceremony. "We now have to ensure that we create a truly single market and production base, with freer movement of goods and services."

At the closing news conference, however, he said Asean had no specific deadline for achieving zero tariffs, but would aim for "meaningful deliverables that can be done every year when we meet at the Asean summit."

The combined GDP of the Asean economies is expected to grow from $2.6 trillion to $4.7 trillion by 2020, Najib said, and could become the world's fourth-largest economy as a bloc as early as 2030.

The countries aim to harmonize economic strategies, recognize each other's professional qualifications and consult more closely on macroeconomic and financial policies.

They have also agreed to enhance the connectivity of their transportation infrastructure and communications, better facilitate electronic transactions, integrate industries to promote regional sourcing, and enhance private-sector involvement in the economy.

Eight groups of professionals will be able to work more easily throughout the region: engineers, architects, nurses, doctors, dentists, accountants, surveyors and tourism professionals.

Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Reuters

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"Message for South America" - Nov 16, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - New


"The End of History" -  Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

" ... South America and the New Energy

South America is starting to consider the same thing. My partner was just there and I allowed him to see the energy of the potential future in that land.

I would like to paint history for you regarding South America. There was a time when every single country had a dictator. Less than 15 years ago, they had failing economies and currencies that were worthless. Trouble and strife and killings were the norm. Marauding drug lords openly killed in the streets and corruption was everywhere. Even the politicians created fear and many disappeared overnight, never to be seen again. Today it isn't that way. Today, there is an ongoing stability as one country after another brings a new, positive, stable energy to their cultures. So, without a concentrated effort by any kind of multi-national leadership or direction, how could this have changed in only 15 years?

Within the entire continent, there's only one dictator left. What's happening? If you think that's amazing, there is a move afoot that you're not going to hear about yet. But they're discussing it right now, so let me tell you what they're thinking. "What would happen if we took these countries and eliminated the borders?" Sound familiar? They're talking about it. In back rooms where nobody is reporting it, they're saying, "What about a plan of eventually having one currency from the top of Columbia to the bottom of Chile? And we would be strong and we would be unified." And dear ones, I'm here to tell you, that it's going to work, and it might not take 50 years. Soon the one dictator will be gone, and the unification can begin.

There's a shift happening on this planet ...."

Being Watched, Indonesia Seeks Answers

Jakarta Globe, October 31, 2013

Embassy security looks through a binocular as he guards in front of the US Embassy
in Jakarta in this file photo taken on March 14, 2006. (EPA Photo/Adi Weda)

Indonesia has demanded the United States formally clarify a news report that its embassy in Jakarta has been used as a base to hack into the electronic communications of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other Indonesian leaders.

Indonesian experts and lawmakers have asked the government to stand up to the US, and to take stern actions, including sending home several American diplomats or scale back Indonesia’s diplomatic mission in that country.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported — quoting intelligence data leaked by US intelligence whistle-blower Edward Snowden and several Australian officials — that the US Embassy in Jakarta was one of the super power’s 90 surveillance facilities worldwide used to monitor “nearly everything a typical user does on the Internet” including e-mailing, web browsing, Internet searches and social media.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa called on Wednesday for Kristen Bauer, the US Embassy’s charge d’affaires, to confirm whether there was any credibility to the news.

“Indonesia can’t accept it and has lodged a strong protest on the news that there are wiretapping facilities inside the US Embassy in Jakarta,” Marty said in a statement sent to the Jakarta Globe.

The Herald also reported, late on Wednesday, that the Australian Embassy in Jakarta was being used for the same illegal purposes of spying on Indonesian officials. An Indonesian official said the Australian ambassador will be summoned to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry’s office to provide an explanation.

Australian intelligence sources confirmed to Fairfax Media that Australia’s electronic espionage agency, the Defense Signals Directorate, is a “full partner” in the program, which they said “overwhelmingly harvests diplomatic, political and economic intelligence, not just information relating to terrorism and security.”

The operations are said to take up an entire room within the embassy compound and that local telephone calls can be listened to at will.

Getting the US to explain

As for the US in the meantime, Marty has asked for an explanation from US officials.

“I have talked with the US Embassy charge d’affaires and demand an official explanation from the US government on the news,” Marty said. “If it’s confirmed, then the activities are not just security breaches but also a serious violation of diplomatic norms and ethics. It’s certainly against the spirit of interstate friendship,” he added.

Bauer is temporary representing the US as Robert Balke, the designated ambassador to Jakarta, has yet to arrive in the city.

During Marty’s phone call to Bauer, the charge d’affaires was only listening, said an official, who asked for anonymity.

“She can’t say anything because she has to report back to Washington. That’s why we are now waiting for the US response,” the unidentified official said.

He said that whatever the answer, Indonesia would ask the US not to conduct any illegal surveillance with the country in the future, and would demand a political commitment to respect the friendship that Indonesia and the US have forged so far.

When contacted by the Jakarta Globe, US Embassy press attache Troy Pederson confirmed that the charge d’affaires has spoken with the Indonesian foreign ministry about the matter.

“We will continue to address these issues in diplomatic channels with our partners and allies,” he said.

Fachry Ali, a senior political expert at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said the damage has been done on the image of the US, and that Indonesia — as well as many countries in the world — has lost trust on whatever the US has to say and do.

“It’s against human rights — illegal and an attack on our sovereignty. So what else is left? We probably will keep on suspecting the US diplomats even when we do something together,” he said. “Indonesia should be tougher on this issue.”

Ethically wrong

Hikmahanto Juwana, a law professor at the University of Indonesia, said actions by the US were against international ethics and law.

“There are a number of measures to show that we can’t accept such conduct. We can expel several US diplomats or scale down our representation in the US. But the question is do we dare to do such things?” he said.

Hikmahanto said Jakarta’s reaction would most likely only be aimed at taming public anger, and should the US provide an explanation, do nothing.

He said Indonesia should be more cautious in the future when having to work together with the US.

“BIN [Indonesian Intelligence Agency] should actively do its own part to prevent such massive wiretapping from happening again,” he said.

While Indonesia awaits a US response, it also seeks an explanation from Australia on alleged spying activities.

Fairfax Media, the owner of the Herald, has been told that Australia’s collection of signals intelligence takes place from embassies in Jakarta, Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing and Dili, and High Commissions in Kuala Lumpur and Port Moresby, as well as other diplomatic posts.

A secret US National Security Agency document leaked by Snowden and published by Germany’s Der Spiegel reveals the existence of a highly sensitive signals intelligence collection program conducted from sites at US embassies and consulates and from the diplomatic missions of other “five eyes” intelligence partners including Australia, Britain and Canada.

Code named “Stateroom,” the program involves the interception of radio, telecommunications and internet traffic.

The document explicitly states that the Australian Defense Signals Directorate operates Stateroom facilities “at Australian diplomatic facilities.”

Surveillance in small size

The document notes that the surveillance facilities “are small in size and in number of personnel staffing them.”

“They are covert, and their true mission is not known by the majority of the diplomatic staff at the facility where they are assigned,” the document says.

The NSA document also observed that the facilities were carefully concealed. “For example antennas are sometimes hidden in false architectural features or roof maintenance sheds,” according to the report.

A former Australian Defense Intelligence Organization officer told Fairfax Media that the interception facility at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta played an important role in collecting intelligence on terrorist threats and people-smuggling, “but the main focus is political, diplomatic and economic intelligence.”

“The huge growth of mobile phone networks has been a great boon and Jakarta’s political elite are a loquacious bunch; even when they think their own intelligence services are listening they just keep talking,” the source said.

He said the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, has also been used for signals intelligence collection.

An Indonesian official said Indonesia would lodge a similar complaint with the Australian Embassy today.

“Yes, we will also ask for clarification on the news,” the official, who declined to be named, said.

It’s not the first time that intelligence gathering in Jakarta by other nations has come to the fore.

Intelligence leaks to the media in the 1980s disclosed an installation of “extraordinarily sophisticated’’ interception equipment in Australia’s High Commission in Port Moresby and in the Australian Embassies in Jakarta and Bangkok.

Further leaks of top-secret defense intelligence reports on Indonesia and East Timor in 1999 also indicated that Australia intelligence had extensive access to sensitive Indonesian military and civilian communications.

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ILO Prepares Building Safety Guidelines for Indonesian Garment Factories

Jakarta Globe, Erwida Maulia, May 28, 2013

Workers set up a tent as they demand for better pay in front of a garment factory
in Tangerang, Banten, in this April 10, 2013 file photo. (JG Photo/Fajrin Raharjo)

The Indonesian office of the International Labor Organization on Tuesday said it was preparing new infrastructure safety assessment guidelines for Indonesian garment factories in the wake of a building collapse in Bangladesh that killed over 1,100 people.

The ILO said it was drafting the new infrastructure assessment criteria under its Better Work Indonesia program, and would use it to appeal to Indonesian garment makers to ensure the safety of their factories.

“In a country that is prone to earthquakes and other natural disasters, it is imperative that employers ensure their buildings are structurally sound by regularly making sure that their buildings are in line with government regulations,” BWI program manager Simon Field said in a press statement on Tuesday.

BWI senior enterprise adviser Muhammad Anis Nugroho said that Indonesia already has comprehensive regulations on building safety, but admitted that implementation was always an issue.

“A public works minister regulation on this [building safety], for example, is quite detailed — there should be regular inspections, and so on,” Anis said. “But it uses phrases only experts on the matter can comprehend.”

The new ILO guidelines, Anis said, are expected to help factories comply with the existing regulations by translating the technical terms into “practicable” guidelines.

He said that it was still unclear how well the government has followed its own regulations.

However, he added, companies should want to improve the safety of their work environments following the collapse of the eight-story building that housed five garment factories in Bangladesh, dubbed the world’s worst garment industry disaster.

“We will involve the government in the creation of the guidelines,” Anis said. “In the end, we want this to help the government carry out inspections.”

Indonesia earned $12.5 billion from textile exports last year. The figure is expected to increase to $13.5 billion this year, with the United States and Europe remaining the country’s main markets.

In comparison, Bangladesh, the world’s second largest apparel exporter after China, records $20 billion annually from textile exports.

SBY Orders Paspampres to Prepare for Heavier Duties

Kompas, Jumat, 22 Januari 2010 | 15:19 WIB

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked the Presidential Security Guards Force (Paspampres) to always be in a state of preparedness to face ever heavier challenges in the days ahead. "There are at least four challenges the Paspampres will face in the next five years," the head of state said in his directives to all Paspamres members at the force’s headquarters here in Friday.

Presidential Security Guards Force personnels form a lineup at the State Palace, Jakarta, KOMPAS/SUHARTONO

The president said his activities in serving the state and nation would increase in the next five years. "The next five years will be my last term in office and therefore I will be more active in carrying out my duties in serving the state and nation, both at home and abroad," the president said.

Yudhoyono added that in the coming years many international events would be organized in Indonesia, namely an Asean summit in 2012 and an APEC summit in 2013. He said many heads of state and government would attend the Asean and APEC summits in Indonesia.

"In addition, the Papampres should increase its alertness because the threat of terrorism against me, such as the character assassination planned by certain elements a few months ago, has not abated," he said.

Therefore, the president said, Paspampres should continue to update its armament systems. "I do not want Paspampres’ armament systems to be less sophisticated than those of its counterparts in other countries or those of terrorists," the head of state said.

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