The Thinker: Women on the Edge

Jakarta Globe, Dewi Tjakrawinata | August 30, 2010

When the plenary session of the House of Representatives failed to ratify the immigration bill on July 30, the women’s movement closely following the progress of this legislation was given new hope. It seems that both the government and the House were aware that the people’s aspirations, in particular those of women in mixed marriages, had not yet been accommodated.

Susan (not her real name), a foreigner, had to swallow a bitter pill when her beloved Indonesian husband had a stroke and was no longer able to work. The couple had met at a university in Yogyakarta, fell in love and got married.

They lived in the United States for two years during her husband’s studies, and then returned to Indonesia and raised a family.

Susan gave up a good career in the United States to follow her husband to Indonesia, where she had to be willing to become a housewife.

Indonesia’s immigration and labor system denies women like Susan a right to earn an income for their families, instead allowing them to live here but only “work” in social institutions as an unpaid volunteer.

Following her husband’s stroke, Susan eventually returned to her home country so that she could support her family and send her two teenage children to school.

The children, who for their whole lives had only known Indonesia as their home, had to adapt to a new way of life and Susan had to leave her husband.

Mireille (also not her real name), a French woman, has a no less tragic story. She met her husband, a singer in a club, married him and had two daughters.

Like Susan, Mireille was denied the opportunity to work, so she instead “illegally” gave lessons in French and cooking. Her husband was often unemployed and depressed, a condition that eventually made him abusive.

What started as verbal abuse later became physical — not only toward Mireille, but also the children.

Every time Mireille said she would leave him, her husband threatened to withdraw his sponsorship and swore he would not let her take the children.

Fear of losing her daughters and that something even worse would happen to them if she left led her to stay.

Rusmiah, who comes from Brebes, Central Java, tried her luck by going to work in Malaysia and working as a maid. She was fortunate to have a good boss who paid her well and even gave her an opportunity to learn to cook.

She met a plantation laborer from Cambodia in an English-language class, whom she eventually married.

They were a hard-working young couple that saved as much as they could to build a better future.

When Rusmiah became pregnant, she decided to return to Indonesia, with her husband planning to buy land to farm while Rusmiah would open a food stall in her village.

But because her husband was a foreigner, neither he nor Rusmiah were allowed to buy a rice field in their name.

He only had a tourist visa and had to leave Indonesia every 30 days.

The burden gradually ate up the savings of the young couple with a new baby and undermined Rusmiah’s health, leaving her unable to work.

The problems faced by these women could be solved if our country recognized the common concept of permanent residency, whereby a person is allowed to reside indefinitely within a country of which he or she is not a citizen.

The latest draft of the immigration bill would fail to solve the problems of these three women above.

The reason given by those discussing the bill as to why this concept of permanent residency cannot be accepted is because the immigration bill only deals with the entry and exit of people (Indonesians and foreigners) to and from the country.

In other countries, permanent residency is granted to immigrants who fulfill certain conditions. Can Indonesia not learn from other countries?

The women mentioned here are part of Indonesian families. The family is the natural and fundamental unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state, as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The UDHR holds that everyone has the right to work and to the free choice of employment. Is the declaration just meaningless rhetoric for us in Indonesia? 

Dewi Tjakrawinata is a member of the International Rainbow Alliance (Aliansi Pelangi Antar Bangsa), a Jakarta-based organization working to ensure legal protection for Indonesian and foreign nationals and their families.