Cutting the Slavery Chain

KOMPAS/PANDU WIYOGA

TNI AL IV Tanjung Pinang Main Base Commander First Admiral Indarto Budiarto (right) and Head of the Riau Islands Police Inspector General Aris Budiman giving a press statement at the Batam Navy Base, Riau Islands, Wednesday (8/7/2020). Two Chinese-flagged fishing boats, Lu Huang Yuan Yu 117 and 118, were caught in the sea of Nipah Island, Batam, which borders Singapore.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — A number of Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) are suspected of falling victims to slavery and human trafficking. The perpetrators are suspected of involving cross-country networks. The National Police are currently handling a number of criminal cases of human trafficking related to Indonesian migrant workers in the maritime sector.

The police have found that several Indonesian migrant workers on foreign fishing boats were not equipped with valid documents. "Reports from crew members who felt that they were maltreated began to emerge after they realized they had become victims because what was received was different from what was promised," said the Director of General Crimes at the National Police\'s Criminal Investigation Department Brig. Gen. (Pol.) Ferdy Sambo.

The National Police are currently handling a number of criminal cases of human trafficking (TPPO). In the Riau Islands, investigations, among other things, have led the police to search for W, a Taiwanese citizen who was last monitored to be living in Singapore. He allegedly asked a number of companies in Indonesia to recruit fishing boat crews.

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Meanwhile, the Taiwan Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Indonesia said that more than 60 percent of the Indonesian migrant workers on fishing vessels were registered to have been deployed by agents outside Taiwan and Indonesia. In other words, there are parties in other countries who are involved in the recruitment of the Indonesian migrant workers on marine sector to Taiwan. Based on Taiwan\'s records, there are now 12,983 Indonesian migrant workers on Taiwanese fishing vessels.

In investigating a number of cases of the Indonesian migrant workers on marine sector, the police found that the main centers in the country were in Central Java, Jakarta and Riau Islands. From brokers in several regions, Indonesian migrant workers candidates were gathered in Tegal, Pemalang and Jakarta.

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DOKUMENTASI WARGA TELUK LEHO

Andri Juniansyah (left) and Reynalfi Sianturi, two Indonesian citizens who fled from the Lu Qing Yuan Yu Ship 901 by jumping into the Malacca Strait. They were rescued by fishermen from Karimun, Riau Islands, Saturday (6/6/2020).

From the gathering points in Jakarta and Central Java, a part of the Indonesian migrant workers were sent to Riau Islands and then to Singapore before heading to other countries. However, there were also migrant workers who were immediately employed at fishing boats around the Malacca Strait.

Meanwhile, based on the tracing by the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union, it was found that the migrant workers were gathered in Pemalang and Tegal before being flown abroad via Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Banten. Most of them were flown to Singapore and Taiwan before being flown further to other countries or boarded on fishing vessels owned by several countries.

To them, the agents usually promised a legal process and a large salary. However, strangely, their documents were confiscated, some by the agents and the captains or ship companies. This made it difficult for the migrant workers to break away from the syndicate.

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"They departed on regular visitor visas, from Jakarta to transit in Hong Kong or directly to South Korea. Why Korea? Because there is a fish processing factory there that cooperates with fishing vessels from China," said the head of Unit IV of the Human Trafficking Crime, Subdirectorate III of the General Crime Directorate, Comr. Chuck Putranto.

International mechanism

To reduce the TPPO cases, the founder of the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative (IOJI) Mas Achmad Santosa pushed that sanctions in the TPPO cases do not stop with individual suspects. Sanctions should also be imposed on companies and company owners involved in the syndicates. "Indonesia has a strong legal framework for taking action," he said.

Law No. 21 of 2007 concerning the Eradication of TPPO, in particular Article 4 and Article 10, mentions the penalties and criteria for people who can be convicted of TPPO in the Indonesian migrant workers cases. In Article 4 of Law No. 21/2007, it is emphasized that anyone will be punished if they bring Indonesian citizens to be exploited outside Indonesia. Those who help him could also be convicted. The sentence is imprisonment of up to 15 years and a fine of up to Rp 600 million.

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KEMENLU RI

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, flanked by the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as State Advisor, Wang Yi (left) and the Minister of BUMN, Erick Thohir took a photo together after holding a bilateral meeting which included discussing vaccine development and economic cooperation between China and Indonesia. The meeting was held on Thursday (20/8/2020) in Sanya, Hainan, China.

I also discussed this issue in the meeting between the Indonesian Foreign Minister and the PRC Foreign Minister, both in July and August 2020

He also encouraged Indonesia to take advantage of the international mechanism and collaborate with Interpol and take advantage of membership in the United Nations Agency for Crime and Narcotics.

With regard to the cases involving Indonesian migrant workers on Chinese fishing boats, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said Indonesia continued to communicate with China. "I also discussed this issue in the meeting between the Indonesian Foreign Minister and the PRC Foreign Minister, both in July and August 2020," she said referring to the People\'s Republic of China.

On 16 September 2020, representatives of the two countries again discussed the issue. "The meeting took place constructively," she said.

After the meeting, Indonesia awaited China\'s efforts to repatriate Indonesian migrant workers on Chinese fishing vessels which are now stranded in a number of countries. Beijing was also asked to solve the problem of arrears of wages. Indonesia also asked China to make a guidance to repatriating the bodies of crew members who died during the employment.

Retno also asked Beijing to thoroughly investigate various cases related to Indonesian migrant workers. Retno wanted punishment for the parties which are responsible. ( AGE/AIN/ CAS/ DIT/ ERK/FRN/ IKI/JOG/ NAD/ NDU/NSA/ RAZ/ REN/ XTI)