Working For Our More Alluring Neighbor
Due to poverty, many people living on Merbau Island in the regency of Meranti islands, Riau, go to Malaysia to work for a living.
Due to poverty, many people living on Merbau Island in the regency of Meranti islands, Riau, go to Malaysia to work for a living.
The famous proverb, “A rain of stones in our country is better than the a rain of gold in another country,” no longer applies to youths in Merbau, as the promise of a better life in neighboring Malaysia has attracted them to work there.
After a month of working as a construction worker in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, Solihin, 36, recently returned to his home in Batang Meranti village, Merbau district. Solihin, who previously worked for 12 years as a teacher in Madrasah Aliyah Hidayatul Rahmah Islamic school in his village, earns about Rp 7.2 million a month in Malaysia. His return coincided with the birth of his sixth child.
"I work in Malaysia purely due to economic problems. My salary as a teacher had not been paid for two years after the local Meranti government stopped giving financial aid to the school. I have to pay my debts and support my family. I have many children. If I have to be fired because I work in Malaysia, I am ready to accept the consequences," Solihin said Wednesday.
No one wants to do the difficult work in neighboring Malaysia. But for Solihin, there is no choice but to work as a laborer there in order to be able to support his family. According to Solihin, dozens of teachers and thousands of other residents in Merbau have worked in Malaysia for years to earn their living.
The former principal of the school, Abdul Rasyid Harahap, 47, did not blame Solihin. Moreover, Solihin usually worked in Malaysia over the school holidays. Rasyid has recently resigned as he cannot afford to pay the teachers\' salaries.
"In the early years of the school’s activities, we collected tuition fees from students. However, later, the students were no longer required to pay the fee because the Meranti government provided aid to the school. From government funds, teachers got an honorarium of Rp 900,000 per month. However, since 2016, the aid has stopped, and the students still don’t pay the tuition fees. I could only cry, as I can\'t do anything about it," Rasyid added.
Rasyid said he recently asked the students\' parents to help pay the salaries of the teachers, totaling about Rp 6.9 million per month. For that, every student is required to pay a tuition fee of about Rp 67,000 per month. However, the problem has not been solved, because not all of the parents have the money to pay the fee.
Cycle of poverty
Rasyid said life on Merbau Island seemed to have no future. There are no better job opportunities. One of the only other available jobs is to tap rubber in the rubber plantations. However, the price of the sap is very low and does not provide enough to live. Moreover, most of the rubber trees are too old and poorly maintained.
Another job is to cut mangrove trees to sell to charcoal makers. Although cutting the mangrove trees is banned by the government due to its environmental effects, many residents still cut the trees. Another option is to be a fisherman, but these days, it is getting more difficult to find fish.
"That\'s the real situation in our place. There are not enough jobs. No wonder many people work in Malaysia. They don’t have many choices. More than 80 percent of my students go to Malaysia after graduation. Meanwhile, female students, if they continue to stay in the village, mostly get married at a young age. Their husbands generally work in Malaysia," he said.
The number of adult males staying the village can be counted on one\'s fingers. Most of the villagers are children left behind by their fathers, and students, middle-aged and elderly people.
Residents from Merbau work in the neighboring country without proper documents, Rasyid said. They enter Malaysia with a tourist visa, which is valid for one month. They usually return home just days before the visa expires.
Then they take a short leave. After that, they return to the neighboring country. Only a handful of people get a good job that enables them to apply for a permit to stay in Malaysia. Women can even become Malaysian citizens if they are married to Malaysian men.
Nurfadilah, 45, one of the migrant workers who was on leave in Batang Meranti village, said she had been working in Malaysia for five years.
Once a month she comes home. She works as a chicken slaughterer at a market in Johor Bahru. "Immigration officials in Malaysia often check my passport and already know me. He always buys my chickens. Every month I go to Malaysia, but he does not ask much. He just says good work. That\'s it," Nurfadilah said with a Malaysian accent.
According to Nurfadilah, learning the Malaysian language from native speakers became a benefit of working in Malaysia. They can speak Malaysian fluently now. It is not surprising that thousands of Merbau Island residents can work in Malaysia without an official visa.
Nurfadilah\'s income reaches 100 ringgit (Rp 330,000) per day. She earns at least Rp 9 million a month.
"When I go home, I bring used clothes and shoes and sell them to neighbors. Within a day or two, all of my merchandise is sold. When I return to Malaysia, I bring honey. Here, the honey sells for Rp 100,000 a bottle, while in Malaysia, the price is Rp 300,000 per bottle. The profits from the honey can cover the transportation costs," she said.
A net income of Rp 3 million to Rp 7 million a month became a magnet for Merbau youth to work in Malaysia. The income is actually not that much, but on Merbau Island, it is more than enough. Tapping rubber trees can reach Rp 1.5 million a month. Although thousands of residents come home carrying Malaysian ringgit, it has not been able to improve the face of Merbau Island.
Upon setting foot on the island, the conditions of the outer islands bordering Malaysia remain very bad. Scenes of poverty, with poor access to transportation, are easy to find.
Going farther into the island, poverty becomes even more visible. One can find run-down houses and badly damaged cement roads. Still, life goes on. Children keep playing in the yard, never knowing that their fathers are working hard in another country to support their families.