“THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ASIA CARES FOR MIGRANTS IN TAIWAN”

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

INDONESIAN MIGRANTS IN TAIWAN

PREPARED BY: FR. KAROLUS ROBERTO SUWENDI

(MIGRANT WORKERS' CONCERN DESK TAIPEI ARCHDIOCESE)

&

Ms. YUEH MO-LI

(HOPE WORKERS CENTER HSINCHU DIOCESE)

INDONESIAN MIGRANTS IN TAIWAN

Introduction

Talking about the Indonesian migrants in Taiwan we are actually referring on 3 main groups or categories: the workers, the spouses and the students. Until now these are still main reasons for the Indonesians massively flow to Taiwan.

But because of the limited sources we have for all these categories, then in our presentation we will just present two groups: migrant workers and spouses as our report in this conference.

•  Migrant Worker

To have a comprehensive understanding on the history of foreign workers coming to Taiwan, we need to look at some important periods which pushed the Government to welcome and invite the foreign workers joining the work in Taiwan.

•  In October 1989 , as a result of the labour shortage, the Taiwan government began to import migrant workers for fourteen key national construction projects.

•  In 1991 , the importation of migrant workers was applied to the manufacturing industries that traditionally required cheap labour to remain competitive in the market.

•  In 1992 , in order to respond to demographic necessities and increasing numbers of double-salary families, the government allowed domestic workers and caregivers to become part of the short-term contract labour earmarked to shoulder the responsibilities of the caring for patients, the elderly and younger children. Migrant workers in Taiwan have almost all originated from Southeast Asian countries. They usually perform unskilled or semi-skilled jobs in the segregated labour market.

Under this policy, then the Indonesian migrant workers have flowed and coming in to Taiwan. Taiwan soon became one of the main destination countries for the Indonesian migrant workers.

Since in the beginning the females still have dominating the number of the Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan. The recent statistic as of November 2006 from CLA showed that the females composed 88% of total 82,191 Indonesian migrant worker in Taiwan. There was a period when the workers from Indonesia were banned to enter Taiwan (2002). But when it reopened its number continuously increased. According to the Employment and Vocational Training Administration ( EVTA ), CLA, from total 338,041 foreign workers as of November 2006, the Indonesian workers are in the 3 rd place with 82,191 behind the Filipinos and Thais.

Most of the Indonesian workers are concentrated in Northern Taiwan (47,611), especially in Taipei City (15,180) and Taipei County (13,327), even it considered as the biggest among the other foreign workers. This phenomenon is comprehensible because mostly the Indonesians work as caretaker or caregiver and domestic helper (72,145 caregivers/nursing aids; 874 domestic helpers).

BREAKDOWN OF INDONESIAN WORKERS IN TAIWAN

As of November 2006

NUMBER OF INDONESIAN WORKERS BY CATEGORY

As of November 2006

Source: Employment and Vocational Training Administration (EVTA) , CLA

Problems Before Departure

1 . A plethora of fees and side agreements

The problems of Indonesian migrant workers already start even before they are actually deployed to Taiwan. They have to shell out huge sums of money to pay for placement fees, to pay the sponsor (to work in the factory costs more than to work as housemaid or caretaker), to “buy job” and other documentary costs to be able to be sent to their work place abroad. For those who work as factory or construction (industry) workers, though they paid a big amount of money before departure as mentioned above, in Taiwan during their contract they still should pay the agency in Indonesia ( deducted 3,055 NT$ for 10 months = almost 8,5 million Rupiahs = US$ 900 )

Besides their employment contract, which is authenticated by each country's government agency authorized to do so, most are made to sign side agreements before departure. These ‘agreements' include payment “…of brokers' and placement fees in excess of the prescribed amount, advance collection of brokers fees which under the law are supposed to be paid by the workers on a monthly basis or every three months at the most and no day-offs for a certain period, usually 12 months.

They are obliged to submit certain documents (land, birth, and diploma certificates, etc.) to the agency as guarantee during their contract abroad. Confiscating documents or other important certificates as guarantee. Still they are threatened by the broker/agent/agency that if they would not pay the ‘illegal' deduction, they will send people to fire their house, etc.

2. A long process (bureaucracy) they should pass in getting permission to work abroad.

The waiting duration for Indonesian workers in the agency's place (a training centre???) to be departed is vary (3 – 7 months, and some cases even until 1 year). A very long and uncertain bureaucracy is the reason for this. It is made so complicated, then it discourages the workers to process their documents by themselves. It becomes the ‘field' for agent or broker to play their role. Just like provide a job for them with a ‘ridiculous' cost they will charge for each worker.

Problems After Arrival

1. Upon arrival, they have to undergo mandatory medical check-up three days upon arrival negating the results of the check-ups that they had to go through in their home countries (Indonesia) which they had to pay dearly (Rp. 475.000 = US$ 52). Failure to pass means a ticket back home. Then they are subjected to additional side agreements that they have to sign in their new work place especially for factory workers.

2. A growing number of foreign workers also now have to shoulder their airfare to and from Taiwan. In addition to these more of them need to pay for their own medical check-ups in Taiwan (4 times in 3 years), their alien residency certificates (ARC's) which are paid yearly. There is also a provision in the Declaration of Fees for Taiwan bound workers for a loan (supposedly) incurred by the migrants in their home countries that makes it legal for placement agencies to overcharge the migrants in the guise of loans.

3. Confiscation of Alien Residence Certificates (ARC's) and passports by employers.

While this is illegal under the Employment Service Act, the practice is still rampant. Many Indonesian workers, especially the domestic helpers and caregivers who call our office asking for help or just need some information, do not know their passport or ARC's number when it needed. It is because they are not allowed to keep their documents. Still regarding the documents, we also found that many of them are not given the pay slip that make them always ignorance of their salary. As the result, they just guess the amount of the salary they should receive.

4 . Forced Savings

This is supposedly illegal under the banking law of Taiwan but is also widespread and like number one is imposed to prevent migrant workers from running away. In CLA's report on protection of foreign workers in Taiwan, it stipulated that under the newly amended regulations by CLA on November 7 th , 2002, an employer is not allowed to deduct brokerage and other fees from the workers salary. Also, the “30% salary deduction as monthly deposits with the consent of the worker” is prohibited in the proposed revision to the Regulations on Employment and Management of Foreign Nationals. The Indonesians are already deducted for saving in Indonesia ( 2,000 NT$/month for 15 months in Chinatrust Bank in Indonesia ) which could be taken only after finishing the contract. But many cases happened here in Taiwan that their employers force them to deposit their small take home pay salary. If the worker will finish his/her contract, this deposit would be his or hers, but if they run away it would be very difficult to take it from the employer.

5. Illegal Termination and Forced Repatriation.

This practice is still prevalent despite the CLA's insistence as stipulated in its report on protection of foreign workers in Taiwan that to prevent unjustified repatriation, the CLA has required that, except for a fulfilled contract, an agreement of contract termination must be signed by the employer and the worker in the presence of a local labour authority. We found many cases of the Indonesians that when they know their rights and complain or clarify on what their employers or agencies doing for them, soon they are threatened to be repatriated.

6. The foreign blue-collar workers need to pay monthly in all of their working days in Taiwan the following “service/handling” fees for brokers. This was implemented in January 23, 2002.

Collection of on-site handling fees should remain as follows:

1 st year - NT 1,800/month

2 nd year - 1,700/month

3 rd year  - 1,500/month 

If the worker will return to the same employer, service and handling fees will be NT1,500/month for the 4 th , 5 th and 6 th year. If a different employer, the fees would be:

4 th year - NT 1,800/month

5 th year - 1,700/month

6 th year - 1,500/month

7. No day - off

Although the domestic workers and caregivers are not protected by the SLL but they still have right to have day-off. The caregivers and domestic workers from Indonesia usually forced to sign an agreement while in Indonesia not to have day-off during their contract. And if they want to have day-off, they must pay their employer (deducted from their salary), on the contrary they are not paid if they work during holiday or rest days (no payment for overtime).

8. Unpaid salary

The salary should be paid to the worker monthly. But many cases of Indonesian workers (especially domestic workers and caregivers) do not receive it regularly. Then, it becomes one of the reasons why there are so many Indonesians run away from their employer.

9. Abuse

The difficulty to prove that a worker was abused ( verbally or physically ) really discouraged them to complain whenever the abuse happened. Another difficulty is that they could not contact anyone [their agency, the counselling, the NGOs, their Labour and Trade Office (KDEI as the Indonesian Government representative in Taiwan), or the police] when it is happening: since they are not allowed to have the telephone (hand phone).

10. Illegal Hiring

It is very common to find among the Indonesian domestic workers and caregivers to be hired illegally. Many of them do not work according to their employment contract.

•  Foreign Spouse ( new immigrant)

Since early 1990s, Indonesia became the primary source of foreign brides in Taiwan. For each of the past few years, more than 2,000 women from Indonesia have left their homes, heading to their imagined ‘prosperous paradise' – Taiwan.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of the Interior, until the end of 2006 there are about 385,358 foreign brides in Taiwan, among them 250,956 from Mainland China and 134,402 from Southeast Asia. Among 134,402 from Southeast Asia there are 26,182 (23,2 percent) (Female: 25,824 and Male: 358) from Indonesia.

Region or province of origin

There is no a specific data of the region of origin of the Indonesians marrying Taiwanese. They come from different regions of Indonesia like Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and others regions. This happens since among migrant workers also there are many who married with Taiwanese. But before Taiwan opened its door for migrant workers, Taiwanese men who wanted to marry an Indonesian through the program ‘match-making' usually went to Kalimantan, especially to the province of West Kalimantan with Pontianak as its capital. The reason for this is probably the similarity with the people in West Kalimantan. Based on the life census 2000, the population of West Kalimantan was 3.94 million which is divided into three major ethnic groupings, Malayan, Dayak and Chinese. The Chinese, especially, are concentrated in several areas, i.e. Singkawang, Sambas, Kabupaten Pontianak, and Kota Pontianak.

The spread of foreign spouses from Indonesia in Taiwan:

Women:

•  Taoyuan : 3,717

•  Taipei County : 3,012

•  Hsinchu ; 2,194

•  Miaoli : 1,717

Men:

•  Taoyuan : 124

•  Taipei County :79

•  Taipei City : 46

•  Taichung City : 18

Data of Indonesian Foreign Spouses on 2006

Reasons for getting married to a Taiwanese

In order to better their lives , marrying foreign men – particularly Taiwanese – is considered by some Chinese women in Kalimantan as a better option than working as migrant workers. It is considered as a more viable option. This international marriage phenomenon began in the 1980s, when the Taiwan Trading Board visited West Kalimantan and Singkawang. The Board's members saw an opportunity to strengthen the relations between Chinese Taiwan and Chinese origins in Singkawang through marriage . As a result, the number of international marriage between Singkawang's Chinese women and Taiwanese men significantly increased every year. It estimated that during 21 years (1980 – 2001), there were about 20,000 marriages between Singkawang Chinese women and Taiwanese men. Its purpose in the beginning to strengthen the Chinese ethnics' relation, now has become an extremely profitable sector for some people (marriage-broker).

Other reasons are like: unemployment, access to livelihood opportunities, access to going abroad opportunities, etc. Most Southeast Asian women decided to marry Taiwanese because they hope to escape poverty in their home countries. For women in Southeast Asia, they could choose to find work outside of their native countries or escape their economic plight through transnational marriages.

System of marriage

•  Brokerage marriage: through broker (match-making)

•  An independent choice

•  Trafficking

Problems encountered in Taiwan:

•  With the family

•  Age discrepancy : mostly the Indonesian brides are too much younger than their Taiwanese grooms. In such case, it can be argued that these young and inexperience brides moved to Taiwan without sufficient information about the country and their legal rights. Consequently, whenever these women faced hardships in their marriages and life in Taiwan, they could no nothing but accept their ‘fate'. Some braver brides opted to return to Indonesia and left their children in Taiwan.

•  Gratis domestic worker : some Indonesian brides we interviewed shared that most often they feel as if they are not wives but just as ‘unpaid domestic workers'. The family members treated them as housemaids who should do everything; cooking, cleaning the house, washing the clothes, taking care the sick, etc.

•  Abuse and Divorce : those who decided to divorce and separate from their Taiwanese husbands often did so because they had been physically, psychologically, and sexually abused by their husbands.

•  Children education :

•  as the number of immigrant women's children increases, many media cover stories of the claimed propensity of immigrant's children to ‘delayed development' and much governmental projects have aimed to solve the problems. These claims are based on the assumption that the immigrant women are from the poor developing countries and therefore lack of education and ability to educate their own children, which clearly has racist behind.

•  The language barrier not only affects job opportunities, but also the parental education a foreign spouse can provide. Foreign mothers are usually the main caregivers at home, but communication with their own children can be handicapped by language problems. Usually they do not speak their own languages with their children. Their environment makes them feel ashamed of their mother tongues, and as a result they feel pressure not to communicate with their children in their own language. Yet the children, surrounded by Taiwanese relations, can often become more fluent speakers of the local language than their mothers, and there are fears that this communication gap encourages children to look down on their mothers.

•  Cultural differences and misunderstandings within the family to be overcome (i.e.: sending money for the family, taking shower, etc.)

•  The Society

•  Since the Taiwanese husbands are mostly working-class, most foreign spouses need jobs to supplement family income. However, they face many obstacles while searching for jobs. First of all, due to language barriers and isolation in the household, they do not have adequate access to related information and resources. Furthermore, some employers mistreat the foreign spouses as the results of prejudice and the women often do not know their legal rights and lack social support.

•  Second class: since the ‘foreign brides' come to Taiwan alone, their social network before marriage cannot serve as effective social support after they are married.

•  Prejudice and Discrimination: Foreign brides have been commonly constructed by the governmental agencies, the media and general public as ‘social problems' and often linked to labels such as ‘fake marriage, real prostitution, and deteriorating quality of the future generation.'

•  The Government

•  Naturalization: Taiwan's policy of incorporation has been known as based on the principle of ius sanguinis , which inclusive of people who can claim a common ancestral origin, real or imagined, and somewhat exclusive of people who do not share that commonality. Recent changes in Nationality Law notwithstanding, it remains extremely difficult for those excluded from nationality to become citizens of Taiwan, except for the spouses and children of the Taiwanese citizens. Women married to Taiwanese men are seen as ‘naturalizable' because of their ability to continue Taiwanese ‘blood'. But as the number of these women increase, the worry about their ‘low qualities' and thus ‘deterioration of the quality of future generation,' the government has added ‘proof of economic abilities' as new requirements for those women to be naturalized.

•  Taiwan government does not grant foreign women citizenship in their own rights, but mediate their rights through their status as wife. Once their status as wife of a Taiwanese man is lifted, they are no longer eligible for applying for citizenship.

Challenges for the Receiving Church

•  Preserving the faith

•  Taiwan is not a Christian society, then mostly Taiwanese men who married foreign women are not Christians (Catholics); the different religion marriage. To preserve the faith of these spouses, the local Church (the receiving Church) first of all should be aware on their presence. The local Church should welcome them by providing them the space, time where they could organize themselves, having a regular meeting with their countrymen through the sharing and mass in their own language. The need to collaborate / cooperate with the Sending Church becomes so urgent, or at least with the priests who speak the languages of these foreign spouses.

•  Second generation

•  Do the Local Church have certain activities focused on the children of these foreign spouses?

•  In St. Christopher's Church: some sisters (nuns) and church volunteers take responsibility for Filipinos-Taiwanese's children through Sunday activities like: catechism, learning language (English), and Chinese mass.

We interviewed 3 factory workers: one paid 30 million rupiah, 27 million rupiah , and 21,5 million rupiah; while the domestic helper or caretaker usually paid around 3 – 5 million rupiah.

Some cases in our office (MWCD): the workers are forced to pay 25,000 NT$, 30,000 NT$, and 47,000 NT$ in which they forcedly signed a seal letter.

3 Foreign workers in actuality are treated like work animals. When they fail their medical check-ups that are taken every six months and at their own expense, these can be grounds for termination of contract and deportation especially if the health ailments are serious. There are even reports that migrant workers who complain a lot against their employers and or brokers fail the health checks even if they have no ailments.

Penalty for not Completing Employment Contract in the Guise of Breach of Contract

This practice is common in industrial areas. All reasons for not completing the contract are penalized including if one is terminated by the employer. The penalty ranges from a fixed sum of NT$20,000 or the number of months worked times a certain amount like NT$2,000. This is legalized when the workers concerned are made to sign side agreements that either they resigned from work or have been given successive warning letters that are grounds for termination of work.

Forced savings, though, even if deemed illegal by CLA continues to be widely collected by employers to prevent escapes by their workers. Both Taiwanese and officials of the sending countries though gloss over the reasons why the workers escape in the first place, which are caused by abuse by the employers on the migrants.

Many Indonesian workers (domestic worker and caretaker who are in their 2 nd contract with the same employer still pay as if they work with a new employer : 1,800 NT$ / month for the 4 th , 1,700/month for the 5 th , and 1,500/month for the 6 th )

Since those working at homes are not covered by the LSL, it follows that they do not have any statutory holidays. Abuses of a sexual and physical nature are also hard to prove in court as the burden of proof lies solely with the victim. Thus there is no physical abuse unless one has broken bones or bruises and other physical evidence of such. There is no sexual harassment unless one has been sexually assaulted or raped.

A recent survey by King Car Education Foundation indicates that only around 32 percent of children born to foreign mothers can communicate with them in their mothers' native language.

Surveys by the MOI and by King Car Education Foundation have, however, shown to be false the popular canard, much disseminated in the media, that children of such mixed marriages lag in learning ability.