Contacts Lost For Years With Seven Indonesian Workers In Middle East

Sukabumi, W Java, May 6 (Antara) - Relatives have lost contacts for years with seven Indonesian workers in Middle East, the Indonesian migrant workers union (SBMI) of West Java said. The whereabouts of some the workers in Middle East have been unknown for four to 10 years, SBMI chairwoman Jejen Nurjanah said here on Monday. Six of the seven workers were from Sukabumi District and one from Cianjur District, Jejen said. According to her, contacts had been lost with Iim in the past four years and with Roswati for seven years, both from the sub-district of Cibadak and with Nurlela from the sub-district of Parungkuda for 10 years. Jejen said she had coordinated with the foreign affairs ministry and the Worker Protection and Recruitment Agency (BP3TKI) to find the whereabouts of the housemaids in Middle East. She said SBMI also is handling case of a dead worker from Sukabumi to secure his rights not yet given for his relatives. It also is seeking the return to Indonesia of a worker named Sulaeman who had diabetes for seven years, she said. "In the past two months in March and April we have received reports of 24 cases of Indonesian workers facing problem abroad," she said. In Syria an Indonesian worker had been detained by her employer for 18 months without pay and insurance allowance, she added. She said some of the workers, upon return to Indonesia, had been victims of distortion and cheating by airport officers. Earlier Hasan Abdullah, head of West Java BP3TKI, said the agency had received 34 reports about problem besetting Indonesian workers aboard mainly about losing contacts and salaries not paid.