Reality is Not as Good as it Appears on Paper

Based on data from the Taiwan immigration office, there were a total of 240,000 Indonesian migrant workers in the country as of February 2022, which included 23,000 crew members of ships.

KOMPAS/CORNELIUS HELMY HERLAMBANG

Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong show their work on Sunday (13/5/2018) as part of the Mandiri Sahabatku 2018 training program. The program empowers them in developing their own businesses when they repatriate to Indonesia.

The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed another side to the story of Indonesian migrant workers. In Hong Kong, for example, a surge in daily Covid-19 cases to 26,908 on Monday (14/3/2022) caused panic and confusion among the public.

"There was a migrant worker infected with Covid-19 who was asked by her employer to self-isolate outside the house. But, only after a day in isolation, she was asked to come back because there was no one to take care of the elderly at the house," said Dedi Kristanto, who counsels Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong.