Child domestic workers in cycle of abuse
In March 2015, the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) and the National Advocacy Network for Domestic Workers (Jala PRT) provided advocacy to Umirotun (23 years old) to report her agent to the Greater Jakarta Metropolitan Police.
In October 2013, the Pondok Aren Police Precinct raided a big house in Bintaro Housing Complex in South Tangerang, Banten. The house functioned as the office of PT Citra Kartini Mandiri, an agent providing the service of domestic workers and baby sitters.
In March 2015, the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) and the National Advocacy Network for Domestic Workers (Jala PRT) provided advocacy to Umirotun (23 years old) to report her agent to the Greater Jakarta Metropolitan Police.
An LBH Jakarta public attorney who then advocated Umi, Johanes Gea, recalled a series of events experienced by the woman, who comes from Brebes, Central Java, to CNN Indonesia.
According to Johanes, Umi testified that she had been locked at a shelter of PT CKM, which is located in Pondok Aren, for a week. The agent’s staffs did it because Umi had not paid Rp2.5 million for canceling the contract.
Umi earlier worked for Milana Anggraeni, wife of tax case convict Gayus Tambunan in Sukamiskin area, Bandung. Umi, however, did not feel comfortable working for Milana due to long working hours, which were not in line to the contract. She did not work for eight hours, but was forced to work from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
PT CKM’s staffs then picked Umi up and brought her to the shelter. “The agent told her to pay compensation because Umi cut the contract and wanted to go home, while actually, she wanted to quit for feeling cheated,” Johanes said early this week.
Having no enough money to halt her relations with PT CKM, Umi was not allowed to leave the shelter. She was not also allowed to build communications with outsiders.
Johanes revealed that when Umi decided to bring PT CKM to court, a number of people, including the sponsor who introduced her to PT CKM, came to the house of Umi’s parents. “They got threatened,” he said.
At that time, the police freed 88 women from the shelter. Of the number, 34 were known of aging under 18 years old, consisting of three children aging 15 years old, 10 children aging 16 years old and 12 children aging 17 years old.
The Pondok Aren Police Precinct then declared PT CKM President Commissioner Eddy Wibowo suspect. Investigators charged him under Article 88 of the Law Number 23 Year 2002 on Child Protection and Article 335 of the Penal Code.
A day after being declared as suspect, Eddy was arrested by an arrest warrant no. Sp.Han/411/X/2013/Reskrim. In the next month, police suspended Eddy’s arrest.
The investigation on the case of locking domestic worker and baby sitter candidates in Pondok Aren finally stopped. On November 28, 2014, police issued a ruling stopping the investigation, saying they did not have enough evidence to prosecute the PT CKM president commissioner.
Less than a year later, after police freed Eddy from all charges, PT CKM was again accused of allegedly committing another crime.
Similar to the case that had implicated PT CKM in the previous year, the police closed Umi’s case again. The investigators said at that time that they did not find PT CKM committing crimes of human confinement and trafficking.
Jala PRT defines confinement as an action that does not allow someone to interact with others. Meanwhile, the Legal Aid Foundation calls confinement as an action that limits someone’s freedom.
Early this year, Lita demanded the Ministry of Manpower again to revoke the license of the company for repetitive confinement.
Lita urged the government and the House of Representatives to immediately passed the Draft Law on Protection of Domestic Workers into law. One of the points in the proposed draft legislation is to cut the authority of an agent to provide trainings and manage temporary shelters.
The case involving PT CKM is only one among various cases between agents and domestic workers. The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation also highlighted law enforcers who rarely settle such a case.
For the case of PT CKM in particular, Johanes felt something odd and said, “Is the owner powerful so he can influence law enforcement?”
Based on an investigation by CNN Indonesia, as of early this week, PT CKM still continues to operate. The South Tangerang Manpower Agency canceled to revoke the company’s permit because it could not find any evidence of violence.
In an open statement dated June 9, 2015, PT CKM claimed that it had never locked any domestic workers and baby sitters under its protection. It, according to PT CKM, had been proved by the discontinuation of a criminal case implicating its president commissioner.
PT CKM said that it has never provided out-of-date food to their workers. They also said that they provide decent sleeping, bathroom, washroom and toilet facilities.
Based on the two points, PT CKM feels they has never violated any rules related to manpower. “From which aspect did we break the rules? We have been undergoing standard procedures of operation as stipulated by the government,” the statement, signed by Eddy, said.
The rules mentioned by Eddy are the Law on Manpower, the Manpower Ministerial Regulation Number PER.07/MEN/IV/2008 on the Placement of Workers, the Decision by Director General on the Management of Placement of Workers Number KEP.258.DPPTK/IX/2008 on Procedures of Service for Placement of Workers.
PT CKM even received an award from the Association of All Indonesia Domestic Workers’ Agents as the best agent. PT CKM also the only agent providing domestic workers that had obtained a written permit from the governor.
To confirm their statement, PT CKM later uploaded the photographs of Eddy along with Minister Hanif Dhakiri when attending the launching of the APPSI code of ethics that bans the recruitment of child workers, a code of ethics that contradicts the findings of the Pondok Aren Police Precinct two years earlier.
In March 2015, the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) and the National Advocacy Network for Domestic Workers (Jala PRT) provided advocacy to Umirotun (23 years old) to report her agent to the Greater Jakarta Metropolitan Police.
An LBH Jakarta public attorney who then advocated Umi, Johanes Gea, recalled a series of events experienced by the woman, who comes from Brebes, Central Java, to CNN Indonesia.
According to Johanes, Umi testified that she had been locked at a shelter of PT CKM, which is located in Pondok Aren, for a week. The agent’s staffs did it because Umi had not paid Rp2.5 million for canceling the contract.
Umi earlier worked for Milana Anggraeni, wife of tax case convict Gayus Tambunan in Sukamiskin area, Bandung. Umi, however, did not feel comfortable working for Milana due to long working hours, which were not in line to the contract. She did not work for eight hours, but was forced to work from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
PT CKM’s staffs then picked Umi up and brought her to the shelter. “The agent told her to pay compensation because Umi cut the contract and wanted to go home, while actually, she wanted to quit for feeling cheated,” Johanes said early this week.
Having no enough money to halt her relations with PT CKM, Umi was not allowed to leave the shelter. She was not also allowed to build communications with outsiders.
Johanes revealed that when Umi decided to bring PT CKM to court, a number of people, including the sponsor who introduced her to PT CKM, came to the house of Umi’s parents. “They got threatened,” he said.
At that time, the police freed 88 women from the shelter. Of the number, 34 were known of aging under 18 years old, consisting of three children aging 15 years old, 10 children aging 16 years old and 12 children aging 17 years old.
The Pondok Aren Police Precinct then declared PT CKM President Commissioner Eddy Wibowo suspect. Investigators charged him under Article 88 of the Law Number 23 Year 2002 on Child Protection and Article 335 of the Penal Code.
A day after being declared as suspect, Eddy was arrested by an arrest warrant no. Sp.Han/411/X/2013/Reskrim. In the next month, police suspended Eddy’s arrest.
The investigation on the case of locking domestic worker and baby sitter candidates in Pondok Aren finally stopped. On November 28, 2014, police issued a ruling stopping the investigation, saying they did not have enough evidence to prosecute the PT CKM president commissioner.
Less than a year later, after police freed Eddy from all charges, PT CKM was again accused of allegedly committing another crime.
Similar to the case that had implicated PT CKM in the previous year, the police closed Umi’s case again. The investigators said at that time that they did not find PT CKM committing crimes of human confinement and trafficking.
Continuing to reoccur
Lita Anggraini, coordinator of Jala PRT, an advocacy organization for domestic workers, said that what PT CKM has done is also actually committed by other agents against domestic workers and baby sitters who have working contracts with them.Jala PRT defines confinement as an action that does not allow someone to interact with others. Meanwhile, the Legal Aid Foundation calls confinement as an action that limits someone’s freedom.
Early this year, Lita demanded the Ministry of Manpower again to revoke the license of the company for repetitive confinement.
Lita urged the government and the House of Representatives to immediately passed the Draft Law on Protection of Domestic Workers into law. One of the points in the proposed draft legislation is to cut the authority of an agent to provide trainings and manage temporary shelters.
The case involving PT CKM is only one among various cases between agents and domestic workers. The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation also highlighted law enforcers who rarely settle such a case.
For the case of PT CKM in particular, Johanes felt something odd and said, “Is the owner powerful so he can influence law enforcement?”
Based on an investigation by CNN Indonesia, as of early this week, PT CKM still continues to operate. The South Tangerang Manpower Agency canceled to revoke the company’s permit because it could not find any evidence of violence.
In an open statement dated June 9, 2015, PT CKM claimed that it had never locked any domestic workers and baby sitters under its protection. It, according to PT CKM, had been proved by the discontinuation of a criminal case implicating its president commissioner.
PT CKM said that it has never provided out-of-date food to their workers. They also said that they provide decent sleeping, bathroom, washroom and toilet facilities.
Based on the two points, PT CKM feels they has never violated any rules related to manpower. “From which aspect did we break the rules? We have been undergoing standard procedures of operation as stipulated by the government,” the statement, signed by Eddy, said.
The rules mentioned by Eddy are the Law on Manpower, the Manpower Ministerial Regulation Number PER.07/MEN/IV/2008 on the Placement of Workers, the Decision by Director General on the Management of Placement of Workers Number KEP.258.DPPTK/IX/2008 on Procedures of Service for Placement of Workers.
PT CKM even received an award from the Association of All Indonesia Domestic Workers’ Agents as the best agent. PT CKM also the only agent providing domestic workers that had obtained a written permit from the governor.
To confirm their statement, PT CKM later uploaded the photographs of Eddy along with Minister Hanif Dhakiri when attending the launching of the APPSI code of ethics that bans the recruitment of child workers, a code of ethics that contradicts the findings of the Pondok Aren Police Precinct two years earlier.
This article is the second in-depth article on child domestic workers a series of four in-depth articles by Abraham Utama and Utami Diah Kusumawati of CNN Indonesia and published on 19 September 2015. The article is part of the ILO’s media fellowship programme on domestic workers and child domestic labour, jointly conducted in collaboration with the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Jakarta and eight selected leading, national mass media. The media fellowship programme was part of the campaign conducted by the ILO through its Promoting Decent Work for Domestic Workers to End Child Domestic Work (PROMOTE) Project. Funded by the United States Department of Labour (USDOL), PROMOTE Project aims at reducing child domestic workers significantly by building institutional capacities of partners to promote Decent Work for Domestic Workers (DWDW) effectively. The Project works to increase the knowledge, skills and expertise on reducing child domestic workers and promote DWDW. |