The Jakarta Post, Tue, 09/16/2008
The National Commission on Child Protection (Komnas Anak) claims plantation firms have been practicing bonded labour over thousands of Indonesian migrant workers and children working in Sabah, Malaysia.
According to the Komnas Anak's secretary general Arist Merdeka Sirait, thousands of migrants working the palm oil hub are placed in poor debilitating circumstances with little or no access to proper living and working conditions.
"The situation is graver than we had thought. A systematic form of slavery is being practiced over thousands of our migrant workers and children over there," Arist told The Jakarta Post by phone Tuesday afternoon.
"The migrants, both legal and illegal, are placed in remote barracks equipped with no facilities like electricity and running water, and they are also trapped because of poor access to transportation," he said, adding that the condition were even worse for migrants without proper work documentations.
Arist, along with a few other members of the commission, had recently visited a number of Sabah plantations after receiving reports of inhumane working conditions and alleged child exploitation from the Forum Non-Permanent Teachers for the Education of Migrant Workers' Children in Sabah (FGTTS) earlier this month.
Arists alleged that the local authorities were aware of the situation and remained complacent.
"Security officials regularly monitor the barracks for immigration papers. They would proceed to extort workers who are not equipped with proper documentations," he said.
He further argued that workers, particularly children, who did not hold proper papers, were deliberately left undocumented by the state.
"It appears that children who do not hold legal papers are intentionally neglected so they won't be able to attend school and in effect would work with their parents at the plantations instead," Arist said.
According to the commission, there are 200,000 legal and 134,000 illegal Indonesian migrants currently working the plantations of Sabah.
The National Commission on Child Protection (Komnas Anak) claims plantation firms have been practicing bonded labour over thousands of Indonesian migrant workers and children working in Sabah, Malaysia.
According to the Komnas Anak's secretary general Arist Merdeka Sirait, thousands of migrants working the palm oil hub are placed in poor debilitating circumstances with little or no access to proper living and working conditions.
"The situation is graver than we had thought. A systematic form of slavery is being practiced over thousands of our migrant workers and children over there," Arist told The Jakarta Post by phone Tuesday afternoon.
"The migrants, both legal and illegal, are placed in remote barracks equipped with no facilities like electricity and running water, and they are also trapped because of poor access to transportation," he said, adding that the condition were even worse for migrants without proper work documentations.
Arist, along with a few other members of the commission, had recently visited a number of Sabah plantations after receiving reports of inhumane working conditions and alleged child exploitation from the Forum Non-Permanent Teachers for the Education of Migrant Workers' Children in Sabah (FGTTS) earlier this month.
Arists alleged that the local authorities were aware of the situation and remained complacent.
"Security officials regularly monitor the barracks for immigration papers. They would proceed to extort workers who are not equipped with proper documentations," he said.
He further argued that workers, particularly children, who did not hold proper papers, were deliberately left undocumented by the state.
"It appears that children who do not hold legal papers are intentionally neglected so they won't be able to attend school and in effect would work with their parents at the plantations instead," Arist said.
According to the commission, there are 200,000 legal and 134,000 illegal Indonesian migrants currently working the plantations of Sabah.
