Warga Depok Kembali Unjuk Rasa Tolak Unit Pengolahan Sampah

26/01/09 02:17

Depok (ANTARA News) - Sekitar 200 warga di Jalan Kampung Sasak RT 3 RW 6 Kelurahan Limo, Kecamatan Limo, Kota Depok, Jawa Barat, Minggu melakukan aksi unjuk rasa menolak pembangunan proyek Unit Pengolahan Sampah (UPS).

Koordinator unjuk rasa Yahya, di Depok, Minggu mengatakan warga menuntut alih fungsi UPS agar direlokasi dari perumahan paling tidak satu kilometer dari perumahan.
"Sesuai dengan UU Persampahan, pengeloalaan sampah harus berjarak satu kilometer dari permuhahan," jelasnya.

Yahya mengatakan pembangunan unit pengelolaan sampah (UPS) yang berdiri seluas 70x50 meter di belakang perumahan Graha Cinere, Depok tersebut sangat meresahkan warga karena akan berdampak dengan kesehatan.

"Bau sampah pasti akan menyengat, ini akan berdampak pada kesehatan," katanya.

Sementara itu, Lurah Limo, Zainudin, mengatakan, proyek ini pada dasarnya bagus untuk mengolah sampah, sistem daur ulang, serta memilah sampah menjadi kompos, dan bisa mengurangi kapasitas sampah di TPA Cipayung.

"Proyek tersebut akan terus jalan walaupun warga menolak," ujarnya.

Menurut dia, agar proyek tersebut berjalan mulus dan diterima masyarakat memang perlu sosialisasi dan pemahaman warga, dengan cara persuasif.

Ia menjelaskan beberapa wilayah di Kota Depok lainnya seperti di Cimanggis berjalan dengan baik tanpa ada protes dari warga sekitar.

Sebelumnya penolakan warga terhadap proyek pembangunan UPS adalah di Perumahan Bukit Rivaria, Kecamatan Sawangan, dan Perumahan taman Cipayung, Kecamatan Sukmajaya.(*)

Link: http://www.antara.co.id/arc/2009/1/26/warga-depok-kembali-unjuk-rasa-tolak-unit-pengolahan-sampah/

Turki’s case to be taken to Colorado Supreme Court

Saudi Gazette, 25 January 2009

By Faheem Al-Hamid and Mansour Al-Shehri

JEDDAH/RIYADH – A team of six US law offices will appeal the Aug. 2006 verdict of 28 years imprisonment of Saudi national Homaidan Al-Turki for alleged forced labor and aggravated sexual harassment of his Indonesian housemaid with the Colorado Supreme Court, the Al-Turki family said Friday.
The law offices have started to act, the Al-Turki family spokesman said after the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld Al-Turki's conviction on Thursday, ruling that the trial court correctly set limits during jury selection and that the jury's findings were supported by evidence. It can take up to a year-and-a-half before the Colorado Supreme Court reaches a decision about the appeal, said Fahd Al-Nassar, spokesman of the Al-Turki family.
The decision of the Colorado Court of Appeals to uphold the sentence disappointed the family members who firmly believe that their son is innocent behind bars, Al-Nassar said.
The decision has compounded the grievance of Homaidan's mother who had just lost her sister, he added.
"But there is still faith that he will be acquitted because he is innocent," he said.
Al-Nassar was surprised to hear the decision of the Colorado Court of Appeals to uphold the ruling in only two weeks after the hearing session of the appeal, a case which should have taken at least four to six weeks, he said. "We do not know why the decision to refuse the appeal was taken so quickly," he said.
But with the new Obama administration in the White House, the family hopes to see a positive result in the case after the new administration's promises to retain civil rights in the US and to cancel emergency laws that have victimized innocent Arabs and Muslims in the US in the aftermath of 9/11, he said.
The family has also pinned hopes on diplomatic effort exerted by the Saudi government to bring about a happy ending to the misery of their son in the US prison, he said.
The Saudi embassy in Washington has been in close touch with Al-Turki's lawyer to know the next legal procedure to be taken in the case, a source at the embassy said.
The embassy, according to the US laws, cannot directly intervene in the case, but only through the lawyer, the source added. – Okaz/SG

Asia’s Migrant Workers Are First to Lose Jobs as Factories Shut

By Soraya Permatasari

Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Nadya Rahmayanti left Indonesia 18 months ago to earn money for her daughter's education. After being fired by a Texas Instruments Inc. plant near Kuala Lumpur, she dreads telling the 12-year-old she must leave school.

"She cried so hard when I left, but I told her I had to go so she and her brothers could stay in school," said Rahmayanti, 28, at the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur, where she came for help to get more compensation. "Now I lost my job, I don't have money and I can't go home. The worst is, my daughter has to quit school."

As many as 400,000 Indonesians -- about a 10th of those working in plantations, manufacturing and as domestic helpers in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Middle East -- may be sent home this year as companies such as Intel Corp. and Western Digital Corp. cut production. The exodus could slash annual remittances to Indonesia by as much as $3 billion, according to Fauzi Ichsan, an economist at Standard Chartered Plc.

"Money sent by these workers helps increase spending in the rural areas," said Anton Gunawan, chief economist at PT Bank Danamon Indonesia. "It is used to build houses, or buy motorcycles." He forecast Indonesia's economy will expand 4.3 percent this year, lower than the government estimate of 5 percent, which would be the slowest since 2003.

Exporting Unemployment

Repatriation of overseas workers may boost unemployment in Indonesia to almost 10 percent, Gunawan said. About 9.4 million people of the country's 112 million labor force are unemployed, according to data published by Statistics Indonesia on Jan. 14.

Intel Corp. announced on Jan. 21 it will close five factories, including two plants in the Malaysian state of Penang, by the end of 2009, as the world's largest chipmaker copes with a worldwide recession. The move will affect as many as 6,000 employees, it said.

Texas Instruments' spokeswoman Kimberly Morgan confirmed in an e-mail that the company released workers hired through outsourcing agents throughout 2008, but declined to disclose the number. It declined to say how many more might be released or if it plans to close any plant in Malaysia.

"We did idle several of our plants near the year end holidays," the company said without providing details. The company declined to comment on compensation.

Malaysia's cabinet decided this week to freeze recruitment of foreign workers in manufacturing and services industries and offer the jobs to locals instead, the New Straits Times reported on Jan. 22, citing Human Resources Minister S. Subramaniam. The government will make a further study on how it can implement the decision, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Jan. 22.

First to Go

"When companies cut jobs, foreign workers will go first," Mohamed Ariff Kareem, executive director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research said.

Many may refuse to leave.

"Some employers hire these workers through outsourcing agents and when they terminate their contract, the workers, who typically borrow a large sum of money to secure a job through the agents, will have no choice but to take another job that pays less," said Alex Ong, a labor activist at Migrant Care in Kuala Lumpur. "They are left at the mercy of the agents."

Rahmayanti said she couldn't go home until she pays her agent the remainder of a government levy for working in the country. The agent holds her passport, a common practice in Malaysia.

Low-Skilled Jobs

Malaysia employs about 2 million legal workers from countries such as Indonesia, Myanmar and India, or about a fifth of the total workforce, government data shows. Most perform low- skilled jobs such as domestic service, shunned by locals. There are probably more than half a million illegal, or undocumented, foreign workers, according to the immigration department.

"They may refuse to go back without a job," said Mohamed Ariff from Kuala Lumpur, who predicts as many as 40,000 job cuts in Malaysia this year, more than the number in 2008. "This situation could prompt an increase in crime rates, worsening social problems."

Migrant workers across the region are suffering the same fate. About 300,000 jobs may be lost in Singapore by 2010, two- thirds of which are held by foreigners and permanent residents, economists Cem Karacadag and Kun Lung Wu wrote in a Credit Suisse Group report on Jan. 20.

Growth in remittances to the Philippines, which account for about a 10th of the nation's $144 billion economy, may stall this year, according to the country's central bank. That compares with a 15 percent increase in the first 11 months of 2008. Philippine economic growth will probably be 3.7 percent this year, the slowest since 2001, the government said in November.

At the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur, official Teguh Hendra Cahyono scratched his head as he walked into a room where Rahmayanti was sitting together with about 20 other women.

"These are Indonesian factory workers whose contracts have been terminated early as their employer cut production," said Cahyono. "They want us to help negotiate for a better compensation. We have to be prepared. Many more will come."

To contact the reporter on this story: Soraya Permatasari in Kuala Lumpur at soraya@bloomberg.net

Pemerintah harus perhatikan penempatan TKI

Bisnis Indonesia, 23/01/2009

oleh : R. Fitriana

JAKARTA (bisnis.com): Perhatian yang besar oleh pemerintah dalam penempatan TKI mendesak diperlukan mengingat perolehan devisa dari sektor ini mencapai Rp34,6 triliun per tahun, melebihi pemasukan dari 140 BUMN yang Rp26 triliun pada 2008.

Bahkan, menurut pengamat buruh migran Bambang Supriyanto, pelaksana penempatan tenaga kerja Indonesia swasta (PPTKIS) memerlukan bantuan likuiditas untuk pengembangan pelatihan.

Dosen Universitas Katolik Atmajaya itu menuturkan selama ini perhatian pemerintah belum maksimal dalam penempatan TKI, terbukti masih banyak permasalahan terjadi pada tenaga kerja di luar negeri, padahal peraturan perundangan sudah tersedia.

"Rasanya menjadi tidak adil, BUMN yang jumlahnya 140 perusahaan dengan pendapatan devisa hanya Rp26 triliun seperti dalam APBN tahun lalu mendapatkan perhatian serius, bahkan ada menteri khususnya lagi," tuturnya dalam seminar tentang buruh migran hari ini.

Dia menyatakan dalam lima tahun terakhir (2003-2007) tercatat perolehan devisa mencapai US$15,74 miliar atau setara dengan Rp173,1 triliun. Rata-rata setiap bulan, menurut data Badan Nasional Penempatan Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (BNP2TKI), pemasukan dari penempatan TKI ke luar negeri untuk kas negara mencapai Rp34,6 triliun.

Dia berharap pemerintah memperhatikan para PPTKIS yang puluhan tahun membuka pasar penempatan TKI ke luar negeri agar tidak ada lagi pengiriman tenaga kerja ilegal. "Banyak perhatian pemerintah yang dapat diberikan kepada PPTKIS, bisa dalam bentuk likuiditas yang membuat perusahaan mereka menjadi lebih baik melatih karena ada tambahan modal".

Pelatihan yang disediakan PPTKIS secara memadai bagi calon TKI, dia menambahkan akan membuat tenaga kerja menjadi lebih terampil dan tidak tertutup kemungkinan menaikkan keterampilan menjadi TKI formal.

Sementara itu, Dosen Radboun University Nijmegen Belanda Meijke Houwerzijl mengatakan penempatan tenaga kerja sektor formal menjadi perhatian bagi negara berkembang dengan tujuan kawasan Uni Eropa (UE).

Bahkan, lanjutnya, para pekerja migran yang datang ke sejumlah negara di kawasan UE berpikiran untuk menetap bersama keluarga mereka setelah beberapa tahun bekerja.

"Dalam Europe Community Law, ada kebebasan bagi para pekerja untuk berpindah-pindah kerja di negara-negara yang masuk dalam UE," tambahnya dalam kesempatan yang sama.(tw)

Preman Malaysia Aniaya TKI

	Pontianak Pos, Rabu, 21 Januari 2009 DISIKSA : Seorang TKI asal Bulukuba Sulsel yang disiksa majikan di Malaysia saat mendatangi sekretariat YNDN. Ia bersama anak dan istrinya berhasil kabur dari tempat majikan setelah disiksa. SHANDO SAFELA/PONTIANAK POST PONTIANAK – Tak ada habisnya penderitaan yang dialami Tenaga Kerja Indonesia di Malaysia. Usman (21) asal Bulu Kumba, Sulawesi Selatan dikeroyok dan dibacok puluhan preman di Serian Malaysia, Jumat (16/1). Akibatnya, Usman mengalami luka bacokan disekujur tubuh. Kepala dan dada kanannya harus dijahit. Saat kejadian Usman pingsan, dan baru sadar sehari setelahnya ketika berada di rumah sakit Serian. Usman bersama istrinya Ati (21) adalah TKI yang bekerja di Sibu, Malaysia sebagai buruh perkebunan kelapa sawit. Mereka bekerja sejak lima bulan lalu. Sebagai panen kelapa sawit, Usman diupah 40 ringgit Malaysia per tandan. Sedangkan Ati bekerja sebagai pemungut biji sawit dengan upah 1 ringgit 30 sen per karung. Pergi ke Bandar Serian, bersama anaknya Astri (4) bermaksud untuk jalan-jalan. Di kota tersebut, ketiganya menginap di salah satu penginapan sederhana. Tidak ada kejadian atau masalah apa-apa Usman dengan pelaku. Bahkan dirinya tidak mengenal puluhan preman yang menganiayanya. Malam itu, dikatakan Usman, dirinya hendak keluar dari penginapan bersama anak dan istrinya. Baru keluar pagar, puluhan orang dengan senjata tajam, besi dan kayu berlari ke arahnya. Karena sudah sangat dekat, Usman bermaksud menyelamatkan diri. Dia lari, namun puluhan orang tersebut justru semakin bringas mengejarnya. "Sampai tujuh kali saya lari keliling lokasi itu, mereka terus mengejar. Padahal saya tidak tahu apa alasan mereka mengejar saya," ungkapnya. Preman yang diperkirakannya berjumlah tidak kurang dari 30 orang itu, dua diantaranya terlihat membawa senjata tajam. Karena sudah tidak mampu lagi melarikan diri, Usman lantas dibacok dan dipukul dengan besi, kayu serta tangan kosong. "Pokoknya apa yang ada di sekitar lokasi menjadi senjata mereka memukul saya," ucapnya. Istri dan anaknya hanya menyaksikan dari jauh dengan bersembunyi di balik tembok penginapan. Ati mengatakan, melihat suaminya dikejar orang, ia lantas menghindar untuk menyelamatkan anaknya. Namun, Ati melihat sendiri Usman dianiaya dengan kejam. "Saya hanya bisa teriak meminta mereka berhenti memukul suami saya," ujar Ati.  Setelah Usman tidak sadarkan diri, puluhan orang tersebut langsung menghilang dengan membawa seluruh uang dan identitas Usman. Tak lama berselang, Polisi Di Raja Malaysia (PDRM) tiba dilokasi dan membawa Usman ke rumah sakit. "Polisi datang premannya sudah tidak ada. Semua uang, paspor dan KTP dibawa mereka," tambah Ati. Dengan dibiayai PDRM, ketiganya diberangkatkan menuju Indonesia lewat Entikong. Di Entikong mereka sempat satu hari bermalam di rumah salah seorang kenalan. Kemudian ke Pontianak dan ditampung Yayasan Nanda Dian Nusantara (YNDN). Ketua YNDN Devi Tiomana, mengutarakan, sulit untuk melaporkan kejadian yang menimpa Usman ke polisi untuk proses hukum. Karena tidak ada satupun identitas yang ada, termasuk paspor. Untuk itu, YNDN kata Devi, sudah berkoordinasi dengan NGO yang ada di Makasar.  Usman akan dipulangkan ke Sulawesi, malam ini (tadi malam-red) menggunakan kapal dan transit di Jakarta. "Saya sudah telepon jaringan di Makasar. Mereka akan membantu pemulangan Usman dan keluarga hingga ke Bulu Kumba. Bahkan Usman langsung bicara dengan NGO tersebut melalui telepon," papar Devi. (hen)

Blaze maid jailed

Gulf Daily News - Bahrain, 22 January 2009 

By Noor toorani

A HOUSEMAID who set her sponsor's house on fire was yesterday jailed for three years.

The Indonesian was convicted of arson by the High Criminal Court, which also ordered she be deported after serving her sentence.

The woman allegedly started the fire when she was alone in the house after the sponsor and his family left to have lunch at their grandmother's house in December 2007.

She set ablaze furniture and clothes in different locations around the house and fled the scene.

According to court documents, she was arrested while wandering in the neighbourhood a few hours after the fire.

She allegedly started the fire because she "hated" the family and wanted to leave the country, claimed prosecutors.

Onlookers who saw smoke coming out of the two-storey building reported the fire to police and firemen were able to contain the blaze before it spread to the entire house. noor@gdn.com.bh

Gradual layoff for foreigners

The Star, January 23, 2009

By MAZWIN NIK ANIS

PUTRAJAYA: The retrenchment of foreign workers will be done gradually so as not to affect any sector of the economy, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

However, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the Government still wanted to see a significant reduction in the employment of foreigners and opportunities given to locals instead.

He said the Government observed that employers preferred to hire foreigners because it was easy to do so.

"While we intend to reduce the number of foreign workers, it will have to be done in stages because we do not want sectors, including manufacturing as well as shop and restaurant owners, to be affected.

"But we also want to see employers giving the jobs to locals. We will get the relevant ministries to take the necessary action to meet this aim," he told reporters after chairing a Drug Prevention Council meeting yesterday.

Asked on reported plans by a multinational company to lay off some 1,000 workers in Penang, Najib said the Government had not been given a confirmed figure and was monitoring the case closely.

"The Government is looking at what it can do to prevent a major reduction in employment," he added,

Najib, who is also the Finance Minister,

reiterated that the Government would decide on the right time to launch the second economic stimulus package although there were calls to hasten it to give the economy a further boost.

"At this stage, our aim is to ensure the RM7bil in the first package be spent quickly. We have already transferred RM5bil to the operating ministries and agencies.

"Another RM2bil is expected to go out by next week. So, the entire amount will be in the hands of those concerned and they have to take immediate action to spend the money," he said.

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Malaysia Bans Hiring Of Foreign Workers In Manufacturing, Service Sectors

Qoute.com, January 22, 2009

(RTTNews) - Malaysia's government on Thursday banned the recruitment of foreign workers in the country's manufacturing and service sectors in an effort to protect its citizens from unemployment during the ongoing global economic slow down.

Announcing the decision, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said that the decision was taken after a human resources ministry report warned that as many as 45,000 people would be laid off by the end of the month.

As per the new rule, the companies must fire their foreign staff first if they are forced to reduce their employees because of the ongoing economic slow down. However, those foreign employees working in highly skilled service industries and factories are exempted from the ban.

Malaysia is currently the leading importer of foreign labor in the region, and has over a two million foreign workers, mostly from Indonesia and other South East Asian countries, in the country. The new law permits them to remain in the country until their contract expires or until they are laid off.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

Copyright(c) 2009 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

More to be done to help foreign workers

Straits Times, 16 Jan 2009

ST link

STEPS will be taken by the labour movement over the next few months to improve the lot of foreign workers.

The aim is to educate workers on their rights, so they know what to do when problems such as late salary payments or housing issues arise.

The chairman of the Migrant Workers' Forum (MWF) at the National Trades Union Congress, Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, told The Straits Times last week that more details would be released 'with the new budget'.

He said MWF, together with the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), would 'come up with more projects and find more ways to reach out to foreign workers to help them understand their rights better'.

Another possible way to improve conditions for foreign workers, he said, is to make the general public more aware of the rights of these workers and the legislation that is already in place.

Doing this, he added, would help Singaporeans become 'our whistle blowers and help us because they are the most effective ears and eyes on the ground to throw up cases'.

He also urged the Manpower Ministry (MOM) to step up enforcement and not give employers the impression that enforcement is 'not thorough enough'.

The SNEF, meanwhile, said it already holds two large briefings a year, and smaller monthly industry group meetings on foreign workers' employment conditions. More of such meetings will be organised this year, it said.

Mr Yeo said there is an urgent need for such steps because he anticipates that the economic slowdown may bring about more problems.

In recent months, foreign workers have complained about being unpaid, unfed, poorly housed and, in some cases, even abandoned. Last month alone, there were at least five such reports.

Most recently, about 200 Chinese workers gathered outside the Manpower Ministry at Havelock Road to lodge complaints about their employers, who owed them up to four months of salary.

But Mr Yeo also had a word of advice for foreign workers who are planning to take similar action: Avoid staging large gatherings or protests.

He brought up an example of a previous case handled by MWF, in which a contractor with cashflow problems was trying to resolve the issue and eventually got a new investor. But a public protest over unpaid salaries by the disgruntled workers spooked the new investor, and he pulled out.

Asked what workers should do in such cases, Mr Yeo said they are each given a booklet in their native language when they receive their work permit. If there is a breach in the work permit conditions, they should call the MOM hotline listed in the booklet.

Another word of advice was to join a union for better protection. About 16 per cent of the over 530,000 unionised workers here are foreign work permit holders, Mr Yeo said.

simlinoi@sph.com.sg

Malaysia plans new stimulus package, migrant worker freeze

CNA, 21 January 2009

	Photos 1 of 1 Najib Razak

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is preparing a second economic stimulus package to fend off the threat of recession and is considering freezing the recruitment of foreign workers, reports said Wednesday.

The stimulus package, which comes after a US$2.0-billion programme unveiled last November, is focused on helping companies and workers affected by the global slowdown, The Star newspaper said.

"This includes how to deal with companies that may be on the verge of retrenching their workers," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said according to the daily, which said the package would be launched within months.

The government has said that the first 7.0-billion-ringgit (US$2.0-billion) package, reaped from savings on reduced oil subsidies, is to be spent on "high-impact" projects including roads, schools and housing.

Najib told the New Straits Times that the second package would be focused on making sure "our economy does not go into recession".

The deputy premier has previously said that the government has the capacity to introduce more stimulus packages but that it will not allow the budget deficit to expand further.

The government has already widened its deficit forecast for 2009 to 4.8 per cent, from the 3.6 per cent predicted in August, due to the additional government spending.

The Star also quoted the labour department as saying it will propose a temporary freeze on the recruitment of foreign workers amid concerns of looming retrenchments of local workers.

The department's head, Ismail Abdul Rahim, said the measure would ensure that Malaysians filled any job vacancies.

Malaysia, with a population of 27 million people, currently hosts an estimated 2.2 million foreign labourers who are the mainstay of the plantation and manufacturing sectors.

As one of Asia's largest importers of labour, the government has become alarmed over the ramifications of having such a big migrant workforce and periodically makes attempts to reduce the numbers.

- AFP/yb