They’re called National Heroes as though working overseas is dangerous.
It is. Not all the millions of Indonesians who venture abroad to clean,
care and labor survive unscathed.
They remit Rp 60 trillion
(US$6.59 billion) a year but the cash is often bloodstained. Some return
with the scars of judicial whippings and employer torture from nations
like Malaysia. A few come back in coffins, killed in workplace accidents
or executed in places like Saudi Arabia.
But few would expect mistreatment in an advanced and well-regulated
democracy like New Zealand. This is the world’s least corrupt nation,
famous for its universal welfare system, concern for minorities and
serious about its international obligations.
This image took a
battering while New Zealand Prime Minister John Key was in Jakarta
recently. His visit was about trade but Key also discussed human rights
issues in Papua with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
While
the two men were talking about the Republic’s problems in its backyard
province, a coronial inquest in the New Zealand capital Wellington was
hearing disturbing stories of cruelty and exploitation of Indonesian
citizens in Key’s own backwater.
The inquest was into the deaths
of five Indonesian seamen and their Korean captain on Aug. 18, 2010. The
men drowned when their Korean-registered trawler Oyang 70 capsized in
the Southern Ocean 750 kilometers east of New Zealand’s South Island
while trying to drag aboard a massive haul of fish.
Robert
Leyden, a ship’s surveyor advising coroner Richard McElrea, told the
inquest the Indonesians could have lived if proper management systems,
safety procedures, equipment maintenance and emergency drills had been
in place.
In brief it was alleged the men didn’t know what to do when they were tipped into the icy ocean and no one took charge.
Coronial
inquests are like a court and held following accidental deaths. The
findings often result in changes to laws and practices.
The
week-long inquest, involving seven lawyers and 15 witnesses, heard
evidence given to New Zealand Police by the 31 Indonesian survivors.
The
men were recruited from Tegal on the north coast of Central Java to
work on the stern trawler alongside eight Koreans, six Filipinos and one
Chinese. Not surprisingly there were language barriers.
Tragically
that wasn’t the only problem. Through the police statements (no
Indonesians attended the inquest) the survivors alleged verbal abuse,
unsafe working conditions, excessively long shifts of up to 20 hours and
a culture dominated by catch, not care.
Faced with a huge haul,
possibly 100 or more tons, the captain left it too late to slash the
bulging net when it began to tip the boat.
Four months later
another Korean fishing boat, No 1 Insung, sank in the Southern Ocean,
perhaps after hitting an iceberg. Two of the 22 men who died were
Indonesians.
Spurred by these disasters and 32 Indonesians
walking off the Oyang 75 last July, a team from the University of
Auckland’s Business School researched conditions aboard foreign charter
vessels operating in New Zealand waters.
The team interviewed
144 people, including surviving crew in Indonesia and the widows of the
men who perished. Their report found that “disturbing levels of inhumane
conditions and practices have become institutionalized”.
Last
year there were 27 overseas registered ships fishing in New Zealand’s
exclusive economic zone, employing about 2,000 foreigners recruited in
their homelands through manning agents. The men are supposed to be paid
New Zealand rates of around NZ$15 ($12.29) an hour but the reality is
allegedly closer to NZ$1 (82 US cents).
Not in New Zealand’s
waters, surely? That’s been public reaction and the title of the
university report, which found the Indonesian recruits signed two
contracts, one to be shown to New Zealand authorities and the other for a
fraction of the proper wage.
The researchers heard stories of
manning agents locking the men and their families into huge penalties if
they complained or jumped ship.
At the coronial inquest have
been officials from New Zealand government departments responsible for
checking foreign charter vessels.
Their statements have shown a
lack of cooperation between agencies and conflicting evidence about the
way regulations were enforced. Tellingly, officials say procedures have
been tightened since the Oyang 70 sank.
The inquest is producing
shocking headlines but the New Zealand government has long known that
evil things were happening in the foreign boats fishing its economic
zone.
Since 2005 there have been eight separate incidents
involving 90 Indonesian ship- jumpers, alleging inhumane physical,
mental and sexual abuse and non-payment or under-payment of wages. They
weren’t alone: Chinese, Burmese and Vietnamese fishermen have also quit.
In
most cases the men were rapidly repatriated before detailing their
claims. That situation changed after the Oyang 70 sank and police
interviewed the survivors.
Separate from the University research
has been a ministerial inquiry. Submissions from ship owners and agents
denied allegations of cruelty and bad management. The inquiry has made
15 recommendations. So far only six have been accepted.
The
government is stalling on the rest, including the key points that
foreign vessels be re-flagged to New Zealand so all local laws apply,
and New Zealand observers sail with the ships to ensure compliance.
These await the coroner’s findings later this year.
A letter from
the widows read to the inquest spoke of “the heart-wrenching loss of
our loved ones, yet we still do not know what happened to cause their
demise.”
Maybe next time Yudhoyono meets Key the President can
ask about progress in rectifying human rights abuses in New Zealand’s
seas.
The writer is a journalist, based in Malang, East Java.