By: Ahmad Sofian
Introduction
In Indonesia, the problem of children who work orare economically active is nothing new. To employ children in fact is culturally ingrained from accepted practices of children helping their family in agricultur, farm or domestic work.
Like other countries in the region, the problem of child labour in Indonesia is part of a structural framework where employers hire children who they can pay less and control easier, thereby raising their profits.
A particularly heinous from of child labour is the forced labour on the fish ramps or jermals located off the eastern coast of northern Sumatra.
The jermals
A jermal is a fishing platform generally located 10 to 16 miles from the coast. The sizes of the fishing ramps vary, some are 20 by 40 meters and other as big as 40 by 60 meters. They are made of wood which is brought to the open sea where they are built. They contain fishing nets which are let go beneath the platforms and raised every two hours to bring in the fish. Atop the platform, the fish are boiled and stored.
According to a 1995 survey compeleted by the Centre of Study and Child Protection (CSCP), off the eastern coast of Sumatra there are approximately 1,900 jermals located in four regions, Langkat, Deli Serdang, Labuhan Batu and Asahan. However the North Sumatra Departemen of Fisheries only has 369 jermals registered.
There are generally ten to 16 workers on each jermal, six to ten of whom are between the ages of 14 to 16. some are as young 12 years old. There is also a foreman who controls the workers. By CSCP’s estimates, this would put the number of children working on the jermals between 12,000 to 19,000.
Working conditions on the jermals.
The workers are brought to the platform and made to work very long hours, and are not allowed off the fidhing ramp until the end of a three month period, when they are brought back to land for a few days rest.
The workers day varies depending on the season and the tides. At high tide, when there are many fish, the labourers work from 2 a.m. until midnight. At neap tide where there are fewer fish and large waves, they work from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m.
The workers are responsible for pulling in the nets with hand cranes (or milling), which is done by all the workers on the platform every two hours, each holding a hand crane. There are usually ten to 15 hand cranes which are milled simultaneously. This can be quite dangerous work, as workers can fall into the sea or be struck by one of the cranes. In 1995 a worker on a jermal in Labuhan Bilik, Kabupaten Batu fell into the sea after being struck by a crane and drowned.
The workers then sort the fish, boil them and dry them in the sun. they work seven days a week, with little time for rest. There is little regard for the walfare of the child workers.
For food, every two weeks vegetables, chilies and onions are brought to the jermal. However, it is only enough to last four to five days. Until the next supply of vegetables, the workers eat fish, rice and cuttlefish. They are restricted to eating only certain fish that are caught. If they are found eating other fish, they are fined.
Though the job is quite dangerous and the hours exceedingly long, the jermal workers only receive Rp 30,000 to 75,000, depending on the hours worked. They are paid every three months, after which time they are brought back to land and can return home to rest for a few days.
As the confitions are so severe, few who complete a three month period return to work on a jermal. To maintain a constant supply of workers, the employers pay recruiters to find children to work on the jermals. These recruiters often deceive the children into coming to the jermal. Some children have told us that they were told they would be working in a factory or other place of work, and not that they would be going out to a jermal for three months.
Clearly, the problem on the fish ramps is not just one of poor working conditions. Rather, the jermal system violates workers human rights, the labour law, and society’s norms which dictate that children should be attending school rather than being forced to work on the fishing platforms.
The fish ramps and forced child labour
As the jermals are isolated, conditions there are very difficult to monitor. At this point there has not been a serious response by the government on the issue of the child workers on the jermals. The issue has been raised with the authorities several times, often after a child dies or escapes and it is exposed in the press, raised by NGOs or after parents complain to the Parliament.
For example, on March 19, 1993 the press reported the case of three children from Medan being abducted and then forced to work on a jermal. Another case of a 16 year old child who died on a fish ramp in Darwin Tamba occured on September 2, 1993. four children ages 15 and 16 jumped from a jermal in Labuhan Bilik to escape the forced Labour and swam across the straith of Malacca in January 1995. another four children escaped by swimming away from the jermal, which was reported in February 1996.
On September 27, 1996 four other children escaped from a jermal by using wooden planks and floated for seven hours before being picked up by a passing boat. Three of the four escaped from the Harapan Jaya jermal due to the slave like conditions on the jermal. They had asked to return to land, but were told they could only return if they paid Rp 65,000, which of course they did not have. One night when the foreman was asleep they used four wooden planks to escape from the jermal, hoping to float to shore. As one of the quite dangerous. Luckily, they were saved by a passing fishing boat, who took them to shore.
These children recruited to work on the jermal are generally not freely giving their labour, but tricked or unknowingly brought into a situation of forced labour.
The four children reported the conditions on the jermal to the local parliament in Medan (the DPRD of North Sumatra) on September 30, 1996. though the commission of the regency House of Representative in North Sumatra heared this complaint and called for action against the employer, the case was settled between the employer and the children’s parents, who were compelled to settle.
A similar escape was made by teo jermal workers who jumped from the platform due to the inhumane treatment and swam to shore.
Unfortunately, though these cases have all been reported by thye press, the attention on the problem soon disappears. Furthermore, there are many cases which have yet to be reported.
It is illegal for children to be working on the jermals. Therefore they are recruited through illegal agents who often operate around plantations and agricultural sites and look for poor families with boys ages 15 to 16. the children who are recruited to work on the jermal usually come from the interior area, far from the jermals, where they are unlikely to know about the harsh conditions on the fishing platforms. Many parents have no idea how hazardous the work on the jermal is. Other are not even told that their children will be working on the a jermal.
These children recruited to work on the jermal are generally not freely giving their labour. Not only do they lose from dropping out of school to work, but they do net receive the wages they had been promised.
Given family poverty, it is difficult to eradicate child labout, but we must work towards removing children from the slave like conditions on the jermals.
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