FMT FEATURE Nur is from East Java. In 2003, she left home and arrived in Malaysia. She hoped to earn and save enough money to make the return trip and take care of her sick husband and two children. She has never seen her family since.
Nur looks much older than her claim to being in her 30s. Her story – and ordeal – is a common enough tale of exploited Indonesian maids and impersonal employers.
“I left because my family didn't have enough money to pay for my husband's medical bills... I left my children with my parents… I came to Malaysia on a domestic worker’s visa,” she said, adding that during her trip here, her agent had told her that she owed him RM1,600 in travelling costs, and that he would deduct four months of her salary in return.
Landing in Kuala Lumpur, Nur was packed off to work as a domestic servant for a Chinese family who lived in Rawang.
“My employers didn’t hit me or physically abuse me... but they did not allow me to have any contact with my family in Indonesia,” she said when met at Tenaganita, a women's shelter. It is also a non-governmental organisation that protects and promotes the rights of women, migrants and refugees.
Nur was also not allowed to return to Indonesia to see her loved ones. From 2003 to 2008, she stayed with her employers in their residence and was never paid at all.
“I asked them about my salary many times, but they never gave me anything during all those years.”
One day, after five years of working without pay, her employers handed Nur over to a new agent. They did away with her services without a word of thanks.
Nur left with a few bags containing her belongings, and three million rupiah from her employers.
The journey to nowhere
The new agent then took her to a house in Kepong where she was kept for a day without any food. He later put her in a taxi that took her to an empty house in an unknown location in Johor.
Here, she waited for another day. During this time, the same taxi came back with six more Indonesians.
All seven of them were then whisked off to a nearby shoreline where they were told to wait for the agent to arrive with a motorboat to take them to Indonesia.
However, at about 2pm the same day, the agent told them via mobile phone that they had to run and hide in the nearby jungle as the police were conducting an operation in the area.
“I was afraid, but I still ran into the jungle,” Nur said, recounting her harrowing experience.
She recalls climbing a tree for safety and seeing crocodiles wade in the mud below her.
They waited and some three hours later, they received another call from the agent telling them to stay put, and that he was going to bring them some food.
But neither food nor agent arrived.
From jungle to the beach
Six hours later, Nur received another call from the agent.
“He said he had arrived in his motorboat and was ready to take us to Indonesia. We ran from the jungle to the beach,” Nur told FMT.
“I was the last one to get into the boat. The agent shouted at me for being slow. But I was so weak. I didn't have any food to eat for the past two days, and the water was up to my chest.
“Then I was hit by a big wave, and I hit my head on something… I blacked out,” said Nur. “I lost all my money… all my documents, everything.”
When she regained consciousness several hours later, she found herself being cared for by two other men from the original group of seven.
They had jumped from the boat to save her, and told her that the agent had said, “Let her go. If I lose only one (Indonesian), then I won't lose any money.”
The two who saved her tried to persuade her to come with them, but Nur refused.
She chose to go to a friend's house in Rawang. They then gave her enough money to take a bus to Kuala Lumpur.
Upon arrival in Kuala Lumpur, she pleaded with a taxi driver to take her to Rawang. The latter agreed, but only if she would have sex with him. Nur refused.
Homesick
Nur eventually found a friend who took her to Tenaganita, where she has since been staying. Although she has no job or any way of earning extra money, the shelter still cares for her.
Tenaganita has allowed her to speak to her children, who are now aged 10 and 12 via the telephone.
“I have spoken to my children... but I don’t know what has happened to my husband... I don't know if he's dead or alive… I don't know if I'll ever have a chance to go home,” said Nur, who is still unable to return to East Java because she has no documents.
Accompanied by Indonesian embassy officials, she has tried several times to secure copies of her documents from the Labour Department to prove that she isn't an illegal immigrant.
But all to no avail.
Nur told FMT that she has been made to pay RM100 to the Labour Department every month for a total of RM1,000. When asked what the costs are for, Nur said: “I don't know.”
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