《Tempo Magazine》英文版「海上的奴役」全文

1. INVES IGATION
HUMAN
BONDAGE
ABOARD
FISHING
BOATSTEMPO AND AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION FROM TAIWAN,
THE REPORTER, INVESTIGATED CASES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
AND ENSLAVEMENT ABOARD FISHING TRAWLERS. THERE ARE
TENS OF THOUSANDS OF INDONESIAN CREW MEMBERS ABOARD
TAIWANESE FISHING BOATS OPERATING ON INTERNATIONAL
WATERS. HAVING NO OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS, THESE
SEAMEN ARE NOT LISTED AS MIGRANT WORKERS BY BOTH
GOVERNMENTS OF INDONESIA AND TAIWAN, RENDERING THEM
VULNERABLE TO ABUSE, MALTREATMENT AND POSSIBLY FATAL
TORTURE.
THE REPORTING AND RESEARCH OF THIS INVESTIGATIVE
REPORT WAS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN TEMPO, THE TEMPO
INSTITUTE, AND FREE PRESS UNLIMITED.
14 | | JANUARY 15, 2017
MUALIPDOC.

2. JANUARY 15, 2017 | | 15
Supriyanto in a video clip recorded by Mualip, a fellow crew member from
Indonesia, on July 23, 2015, on board the Fu Tzu Chun.

3. he died.
In the first video, taken on July 21, 2015,
Supriyanto’s face appeared swollen, con-
gealed blood oozing out of his nose. There
was also a gaping wound on his head. Mu-
alip taped Supriyanto’s battered condition
using the camera on his cellular phone, at
the same time asking him questions.
“Who beat you up? What are their
names?” asked Mualip in Javanese. “En-
gine,” replied Supriyanto, meaning the
head technician.
“Who else? Which of us (Indonesians)
took part in the beating?”
“Agus, Munawir.”
“Did the captain also take part in the
beating?”
“Yes, the captain also took part, rough-
ing me up.”
MUALIPDOC.(SUPRIYANTO),
TEMPO/IRSYAMFAIZ(SETIAWAN)
That one minute 51 second video was
taken on their 70th day at sea. The Fu Tzu
Chun left Pingtung port, about 370 kilome-
ters south of Taipei, on May 12, 2015. Her
crew members, all of whom were Indone-
sians, had arrived in Taipei six days earli-
er. In addition to Supriyanto and Mualip,
therewereAgusSetiawan,MunawirSazali,
Sukhirin, Slamet, Dulyaman, Dian Rozikin
and Urip Muslikhin. The Fu Tzu Chun was
led by Captain Chen Kai Chi, who is also
the ship’s owner. The head technician was
Chen Jin Biao, whom Supriyanto identified
as the first to physically assault him.
The second and third videos show Supri-
yanto’s condition becoming worse. In the
thirdvideotakenonAugust25,2015,Supri-
M
U A L I P
showed Se-
tiawan three
video clips of
his dead cousin
Supriyanto, a
few days before
his family re-
ceived his body
on September
27, 2015. As if
hypnotized by
the visuals on his cellular phone, Setiawan
asked Mualip not to show them to anyone.
“I was worried that those pictures would
upset my relatives, as Supriyanto’s body
still had not arrived,” Setiawan told Tempo,
in early December a year later.
A month earlier, on August 25, Setiawan
received word from Jangkar Jaya Samu-
dera company that his cousin had died in
the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Jangkar is
the agency which sent Supriyanto, born in
1969, from his hometown of Tegal in Cen-
tral Java, to work as a crew member on
board the Fu Tzu Chun, a Taiwanese fish-
ing vessel operating over international wa-
ters. According to the person who relayed
the news, Supriyanto had fallen ill before
16 | | JANUARY 15, 2017
Setiawan holds Supriyanto’s passport
and seaman book .
Supriyanto in a video clip recorded by
Mualip on July 21, 2015, aboard the Fu
Tzu Chun (right).

4. to died.
● ● ●
LIKE the fate which befell Supriyanto,
the crew of Taiwanese ships operating on
open seas—outside Taiwan territorial wa-
ters—are generally subjected to abuse. Last
November and December, Tempo inter-
viewed scores of seamen at Tegal, Pema-
lang, Cilacap, Jakarta, and in three cities in
Taiwan: Taipei, Keelung and Kaohsiung.
Their stories were basically the same.
They work for more than 20 hours a day,
10 hours casting fishing lines followed by
two hours of rest, then 10 hours of reeling
in the lines and another two hours of rest.
They sleep on whatever they can find in a
yanto appears to be lying down, his body
emaciated, just skin and bones. He ap-
pearedtobewheezing.Itwasonthatdayin
the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of kilometers
away, south of Micronesia, that Supriyanto
breathed his last.
In addition to showing the video clips,
Mualip told Setiawan that Supriyanto died
after being repeatedly abused. The two
crew Indonesian crew members who also
beat him, Agus Setiawan and Munawir
Sazali, were following the captain’s orders.
“No matter how bad one of us might be, we
wouldn’t be that cruel to our own people
unless it was under orders from the cap-
tain,” said Setiawan.
Chen Jin Te, father of Captain Chen Kai
Chi,deniedchargesthathissontookpartin
abusing Supriyanto. “There were only two
Taiwanese on board,” he said. “It’s impos-
sible that the captain would commit such
abuse, given the risk of being overpowered
and killed by the crew.”
Not long after sharing those videos, said
Setiawan, Mualip went back to sea, as did
the rest of the crew from the Fu Tzu Chun.
After that ship returned to Pingtung Port
on September 11, 2015, the crew, some of
whom came from Tegal and Pemalang,
went home before setting out again on the
same ship, except for Urip Muslikhin. It
seems Urip was declared missing at sea af-
ter he fell from the deck of the Fu Tzu Chun
on July 26, 2015—a month before Supriyan-
JANUARY 15, 2017 | | 17
I N D O N E S I A N S L A V E S O N F I S H I N G V E S S E L S

5. INDONESIAN SLAVES ON TAIWANESE SHIPS INVESTIGATION TEAM
TEAM LEADERS: Setri Yasra, Philipus Parera
PROJECT HEAD: Anton Septian
EDITORS: Philipus Parera, Setri Yasra, Yosep Suprayogi, Anton Septian
WRITERS: Anton Septian, Mustafa Silalahi, Ahmad Nurhashim
CONTRIBUTORS: Muhammad Irsyam Faiz, Mustafa Silalahi
PHOTO: Ijar Karim
DESIGN: Eko Punto Pambudi, Fitra Moerat Sitompul, Kendra Paramita
stuffy room in the ship’s hull. If the fishing
isgood,theycangoafulldaywithoutsleep-
ing. They must also dive without oxygen
tanks when cleaning the ship’s propellers.
“This can be three times a week, regardless
of whether it is day or night,” said Rizky Ok-
taviana, a crew member aboard the Hom-
sang 26, a Taiwanese ship which operated
in the southern waters of Africa between
2012-2013.
If they are slow at their work, they are
lined up and beaten on the face by the cap-
tain. “Even worse, any crew member who
works slow is tied up and given electric
shocks,” said Eko Prasetyo, a youth from
Tegal who got off a ship in July last year, af-
ter being at sea for two years.
According to other seamen, the catches
are immediately stored in a freezer room.
Theyareonlyallowedtoconsumeforthem-
selves damaged fish, those which larger
fish have nibbled at, eaten with rice cooked
with mung beans in a pot. Biscuits are only
provided at sea during Chinese New Year.
Some seamen said that it was difficult to
obtain fresh water. Clean water supplies
were only for the captain. They managed
by boiling frost buildup in the fish cold stor-
age freezer.
Itwassuchmaltreatmentthatled28-year
old Visa Susanto, also from Tegal, to turn
violent. In mid-July 2013, he called on eight
other Indonesian crew members to kill the
captain of the Te Hung Hsing 368, Chen Te
Sheng, and his head technician, Ho Chang
Lin.
According to Visa’s younger sister, Nova
Karolina, her older brother was caught
cooking on the sly. Visa cooked food for
himself and other crew members because
they were starving. The captain had not
given them enough food for the past sev-
eral days. When he found Visa cooking se-
cretly, the captain became angry and beat
him up. “Visa retaliated,” said Nova. Over-
come with rage, Visa and his colleagues
threw the lifeless bodies of the captain and
head technician overboard.
In February 2014, Visa was sentenced to
28 years in prison. Seven of his fellow crew
members were given sentences ranging
from three months to 22 years. One oth-
er crew member, Imam Setiawan, was re-
leased because he was found not to have
been involved. Imam no longer works at
sea.
According to the records of the Taiwan
Fisheries Agency, there have been at least
23 cases in which captains or Taiwanese
crew members have been killed by foreign
crew members in the past 20 years. Fifteen
of these cases involved Indonesian sailors,
including the case of Visa Susanto and his
fellow crew members.
● ● ●
SUPRIYANTO arrived in Taiwan on May
6, 2015, on a visa good for seven days. Be-
cause he was only deemed to be staying for
a short time, he was not listed as an Indone-
sian crew member officially working in Tai-
wan. Visa Susanto and other Indonesian
sailors working aboard Taiwanese vessels
in international waters also have the same
illegal working status.
Neither are they listed as Indonesian for-
eign workers. Of the 243,000 official Indo-
nesian foreign workers in Taiwan, those
working as seamen number between
8,000-9,000 people. In seamen-speak,
such crew members are known as ‘locals’.
Seamen like Supriyanto and Visa Susanto
are referred to as ‘LG ship crewmembers’,
LG being the abbreviation for Letter of
Guarantee.
Crew members who work outside Indo-
nesia should have a work visa, a seaman
book, and be equipped with maritime
skills. They should also be placed by an of-
ficial agency holding a Recruitment and
Placement Seamen Agency (SIUPPAK) li-
cense. However, most LG crew members
are hired by unlicensed recruiting compa-
nies which provide no training. Supriyan-
toandVisawereabletomakeseveralocean
voyages with just a letter of guarantee from
a recruitment agency in Taiwan. Their sea-
man books were forgeries.
Given the prevalence of such illegality,
noonereallyknowsjusthowmanyLGcrew
members may be working out there. Like
someofficialsinTaiwan,therepresentative
office of the Indonesian Chamber of Com-
merce and Industry (Kadin) in Taipei has
no records, while the Indonesian Foreign
Ministry only keeps data on 7,000 Indo-
nesian sailors disembarking from Taiwan-
ese ships every year in Cape Town, South
Africa. They also have a record of 5,000 In-
donesian seamen listed in Mauritius, an is-
land in the Indian Ocean. This data applies
only for the two ports. “The total number
is estimated to be more than 40,000 peo-
ple,” said Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, director
for the protection of Indonesian citizens
and legal aid at the foreign ministry.
Iqbalestimatesthatthe40,000figureac-
counts for 80 percent of all LG ship crew-
members from Indonesia. The rest work on
ships owned or operated by China, Thai-
land and other countries.
In Taiwan, because they are not official-
ly registered as seamen, LG crew members
arenotprotectedbylaborlaws.Theydonot
get health insurance coverage or foreign ID
cards. Their salaries are, on average, half
theamountofcrewmembersoflocalships,
which per month comes to NT$19,000 or
nearly Rp8 million.
Indonesians looking for work through il-
legal channels tend to be uninformed and
holdnoleveragewhendealingwithunscru-
pulous or unregistered recruiting agen-
cies,acceptingeverythingtheyareoffered.
According to his contract with Jangkar Jaya
Samudera, a Pemalang-based employment
agency not far from Tegal, Supriyanto was
promised US$350 a month, about Rp4.7
million. However, he did not receive that
amount during the initial months.
It was later revealed that Jangkar Jaya
Samudera had an agreement with Jin Hong
Company, a Taiwanese agency, to with-
hold US$100 from Supriyanto’s salary each
month for nine months. Supposedly, these
18 | | JANUARY 15, 2017

6. withheld wages would be given back when
Supriyanto’s 24-month work term was
completed. This was done to prevent crew
members from running off.
Another US$470 was cut from Supriyan-
to’s salary over a four-month period by
Jangkar. This was done to reimburse ‘de-
parture costs’. So, inthe firsttwomonthsof
working, Supriyanto only took in US$100,
which he received on board the ship.
This unfair contract put Supriyanto in a
bind. If he did not honor the agreement, he
would lose the withheld funds. If he went
back to Indonesia, there would be reper-
cussions. It is mentioned in Supriyanto’s
contract with Jangkar that, “If I run off, am
lazy, or ask to be sent home...the Indone-
sian agency has the right to demand that
my family pay the fine and costs incurred.”
If this is not paid, the family would face a
lawsuit requiring them to pay compensa-
tion of US$1,000.
Rudi Setiawan, a commissioner at Jang-
kar Jaya Samudera, played down charges
that the contract was a bad deal for Supri-
yanto. “Both parties agreed and signed it,”
he said.
Supriyanto’s recruitment agency in Tai-
wan, the Jin Hong Company, is owned by
Chen Jin Te, who is also the father of Cap-
tainChenKaiChi.AccordingtoChenJinTe,
there was nothing wrong with Supriyan-
to’s recruitment. “He was recruited under
the supervision of the fishermen’s associ-
ation in Taiwan,” he said. In Taiwan, each
recruitment must be acknowledged by the
fishermen’s association. However, after
our investigation, it was found that the Jin
Hong Company never reported Supriyan-
to’s recruitment to the association.
In Kaohsiung, a port city next to Ping-
tung, Tempo met Pan Ching Ju from the
Kaohsiung Fishing Vessel Crew Supply As-
sociation. According to Pan, the associa-
tion has been using the services of foreign
LG crew members for 20 years—using dou-
ble contracts as was the case with Supri-
yanto. “The contract is more flexible. Crew
members can go to all countries,” she said.
According to Pan, the local Taiwan associ-
ation works with about 39 seamen recruit-
ment agencies in Indonesia.
● ● ●
TRACING the chain from recruitment
to hire of crew members for fishing boats
operating overseas is quite simple. At the
chain’s begininng is a ‘sponsor’ who is ac-
tually a broker in the recruitment business.
He looks for candidates in rural areas. Ah-
mad Daryoko, a broker, said he first ap-
proaches village chiefs or local leaders, to
gain the trust of those he intends to recruit.
“I initially go to the village chief to talk
about how to end unemployment in their
village,” he said.
The ‘sponsor’ then proposes candidates
to recruiting agencies. A broker is paid a
commission for each candidate they re-
cruit. If the candidate is inexperienced,
they are paid about Rp1.5 million a month.
However, if they have experience work-
ing on foreign fishing boats, their pay can
reach Rp2 million.
The agencies then offer the crew mem-
ber to foreign agencies which supply sea-
mento ships.InIndonesia,ofthehundreds
of agencies operating, according to the re-
cords of the transportation ministry, as of
last November, only 72 held SIUPPAK op-
erating licenses. In Tegal and Pemalang,
where more than 40 agencies operate,
none have the required SIUPPAK license.
For each seamean sent, the recruiting
agency gets about US$500. “The highest
demand for crew members comes from
Taiwanese ships,” said Herman, chairman
of the Indonesia Association of Recruit-
ment Agencies.
In the recruitment of Supriyanto, Jang-
kar got US$550 from the Jin Hong Compa-
ny. This fee is clear profit, as other costs
are borne by the seamen themselves—de-
ducted from their work aboard their fish-
ing boats. These costs cover the purchase
of a seaman book, basic safety training, all
of which come to Rp1.5 to 2 million.
Violations have also occurred in provid-
ing seamans’ books. According to the regu-
TEMPO/IJARKARIM
JANUARY 15, 2017 | | 19
I N D O N E S I A N S L A V E S O N F I S H I N G V E S S E L S
Letter of agreement between Jangkar
Jaya Samudera and Jin Hong Company.
Supriyanto’s contract with Jangkar Jaya
Samudera.

7. lations of the transportation ministry, sea-
mans’ books are made at the office of the
harbormaster at a cost of Rp100,000 and
are to be ready in less than a week. Howev-
er, many sailors say that they never went
to the office of the harbormaster, which
works under the transportation ministry.
“A photograph is taken at the agency office,
and the next day it’s ready,” said Riski Su-
gito, who returned from working at sea in
early2016.Riskialsodidnottakepartinba-
sic safety training, which usually lasts 3-5
days, although it is the main condition for
receiving a seaman’s book.
It was not until he returned to Indonesia
thatRiskidiscoveredhisbookwasaforgery.
That was what officials at Sukarno-Hatta
Airport informed him when they checked
his documents. He was warned and asked
to replace it with an authentic book.
Supriyanto’s seaman’s book was also
counterfeit. The seamen’s code listed in
the book, 6201537910, was not found at
the transportation ministry. Tempo took
Supriyanto’s book to the Office of the Har-
bormaster and the Tegal Port Authority to
check it. According to Fahrudin, chief of
the Maritime Safety Sub-section, the docu-
ment was a fake.
Rudi Setiawan, a commissioner at Jang-
kar Jaya Samudera, said that he knew noth-
ing about the case. Supriyanto already had
a seaman’s book when he came to his of-
fice. Bima Samudra Bahari, the agency
which first sent Supriyanto to Taiwan, de-
nied making him any fake documents. “Su-
priyanto took care of his own documents,”
said Tarman, a company spokesman.
In the case of Visa Susanto, the code
6201292887inhisseaman’sbookwasregis-
tered under the name of Agustinus Petrus.
Tempo met Suyatno, a forger of sailor’s
books who was arrested by the Jakarta Po-
lice Department in Cengkareng, West Ja-
karta, last November, in prison. According
to Suyatno, during the year and a half that
he operated, he forged about 2,000 blank
seaman’s books and an equivalent number
of basic safety training certificates.
The fake documents had been ordered
by two men who claimed their names were
Jefri and Jai, whom he met through an asso-
ciate who had gone into the printing busi-
ness before him. Speaking to Suyatno, Je-
fri said that he was ordering the books at
the request of ‘an insider at Tanjung Pri-
ok’. Suyatno did not know what he was re-
ferring to, as Jefri and Jai never gave any de-
tails. He mostly spoke with them over the
telephone, not in person. The police are
still searching for Jefri, who has been iden-
tified as being in his 40s and comes from
Central Java, and Jai, who is in his early 50s
and comes from Makassar.
In one month, Jefri or Jai would order
50 to 200 seaman books. The price for
one blank book was Rp35,000. Suyatno
said the fake training certificates went for
Rp8,000 each. After the goods were deliv-
ered, Suyatno said he had no idea what was
done with them. “After the order is taken,
only they are the ones who know what hap-
pens,” he said.
Some agency people in Tegal said that
the seaman books are obtained from insid-
ers at the office of the harbormaster. The
books are still blanks, containing no name
of the seaman, code number, or photo of
the crew member. But they have already
been signed by the harbormaster and duly
stamped.
Spokesman for the transportation minis-
try, Bambang S. Ervan, said that it was dif-
ficult to falsify seamans’ books. “Original
seamen books are printed by (state-owned
printing company) Peruri,” he said. “There
are security features which cannot be cop-
ied by forgers.” The book number is perfo-
rated by a laser, which makes holes on the
pages which are sensitive to the touch.
● ● ●
ECONOMIC slavery, minimal protection,
and hard labor have not deterred people
wanting to risk their chances on board fish-
ingboats.Atpresent,accordingtoHerman,
chairman of the association of shipping
crew recruitment agencies, in one month
one agency can place over 100 crew mem-
bers aboard vessels. “If business is good it
can reach up to 300 people,” he said. While
some are experienced, many of them tend
to be new to the sea.
Supriyanto was on a Taiwanese fishing
boat in 2014, but did not seem to have had
a happy experience. He worked for four
months then left the boat. Back in Tegal, he
worked at various jobs before he went back
to sea. “He pushed a pedicab, worked as a
motorbike taxi driver, a bus conductor,”
said his cousin, Setiawan.
Two years ago, he suddenly came to Se-
tiawan saying he wanted to give his chil-
dren a decent life. After getting a divorce,
Supriyanto was raising three children by
himself. “I want to go back to sea,” he said.
He sailed off in May 2015, boarding the Fu
Tzu Chun from Pingtung, south of Taipei.
20 | | JANUARY 15, 2017
Cianjhen port for fishing vessels in
Kaohsiung, Taiwan, December 2016.
TEMPO/MUSTAFASILALAHI
●

8. TEMPO/MUSTAFASILALAHI
JANUARY 15, 2017 | | 21
I N D O N E S I A N S L A V E S O N F I S H I N G V E S S E L S
D
ESPITE never having stepped
footonaboat,Arofiqunwasde-
termined to become a seaman
aboard a foreign fishing boat.
In his Central Java hometown
of Magelang, the 30-year-old
man had been working in a gar-
ment factory. “I wanted to try new work.
Who knows, maybe I could succeed at it,”
he said, last December.
HewenttotheofficeofJangkarJayaSamu-
derainPemalang,notfromMagelang,with-
out any sailing skills. His only training was
on basic safety, which he had just learned
in Cirebon, West Java, for three days. Last
December, he and three other candidates
waited to travel abroad at accommodation
provided by Jangkar, the agency which had
also recruited Supriyanto, a sailor from Te-
gal, who died aboard a Taiwanese fishing
vessel.
Supriyanto’s death has not deterred oth-
ers seeking to work as crew members on
fishing boats or trawlers. There were 25
candidates whom Jangkar Jaya had recruit-
ed before Arofiqun’s group came along. Ac-
cording to Rudi Setiawan—a company com-
missioner—even when business is slow,
Jangkar places an average of five seamen
each month on board ships.
These seamen do not care much about
the company’s business authorization. Ac-
cording to the Indonesian Transportation
Ministry, Jangkar does not have a Recruit-
ment and Placement Seafarers Agency (SI-
UPPAK) license, a requirement to recruit
and place people on board foreign vessels.
Because they do not have that license, the
recruitment done by the company should
be illegal. According to the ministry’s re-
cords, as of last November, only 72 compa-
nies are registered as having the SIUPPAK.
Most of these are employment agencies
sending out crew members for commercial
vessels such as cruise or cargo ships, which
are subject to different conditions than for
those working aboard fishing boats.
Rudi Setiawan admitted that his compa-
ny did not have a SIUPPAK. “How to get a
SIUPPAK? I myself am confused about it,”
hesaid.Thecompanyonlyhasabusinessli-
cense (SIUP) from the Trade Ministry. Rudi
is reluctant to apply for a SIUPPAK because
he feels the conditions are more appro-
priate for agencies placing job-seekers on
commercial vessels.
There are 12 conditions which must be
met before that license can be issued by
the Transportation Ministry. One requires
the agency to submit records of seamen
who have been placed on ships and copies
of their agreements with ship owners. Ac-
cording to Bambang S. Ervan, a spokesman
for the Transportation Ministry, those con-
ditions are intended to protect the seamen.
Herman, chairman of the Indonesia Em-
ployment Agencies Association, said that
more than 40 companies in Tegal and Pe-
malang do not have the SIUPPAK. “I sug-
gested that they not process the SIUPPAK,”
he said. “We are agencies looking seamen
for fishing boats. This is different from per-
sonnel for seafaring vessels.”
For the Transportation Ministry, crew
members working aboard fishing or for-
eign vessels fall into the category of sea-
farers not fisherman. For this reason, each
seaman sent out must have basic sea train-
ing, such as safety skills. Fisherman is a
term for crew members working in fishing
operating inside Indonesia. This sector is
overseen by the Maritime Affairs and Fish-
eries Ministry.
Differences of interpretation over the
regulations have also taken place in the
recruitment of crews. The Transporta-
tion Ministry maintains that the only con-
dition for agencies recruiting and placing
crews is the SIUPPAK license. However, the
Manpower Ministry requires the agencies
to also have a license for the placement of
Indonesians working overseas (SIPPTKI),
such as recruitment agencies placing mi-
grant workers.
This is based on Law No. 39/2004 on the
Placement and Protection of Indonesian
Migrant Workers. “We want to take up this
particular employment issue,” said Labor
Minister Hanif Dhakiri. “The ships can be
there, but the worker must go through the
Manpower Ministry.”
However, this law does not specifically
mention crews working in the fishing sec-
tor. Therefore the Transportation Ministry
issued Ministerial Regulation No. 84/2013
on the Recruitment and Placement of
Crews, which became the legal umbrella
for the SIUPPAK.
This overlap of regulations meant that
cases involving seamen have been unre-
solved. No legal or administrative action
have been taken against companies such
as Jangkar. Imam Syafii, a former fishing
crew member who is active in the Indone-
sian Seamen’s Movement, said that some of
the complaints about sailors not receiving
their salaries have not been processed by
the Transportation Ministry. “Meanwhile,
the Manpower Ministry is confused about
whether or not to take any action, because
the shipping company comes under the ju-
risdiction of the Transportation Ministry,”
he said.
●
RUTHLESS RECRUITERS AND
REGULATORY LOOPHOLES
Employment agencies hiring fishing boat crews in Indonesia are
unlicensed and seamen fall prey to bureaucratic tussle between two
ministries.
Jangkar Jaya Samudera office in Pemalang,
Central Java.

9. PHOTOS:TEMPO/MUSTAFASILALAHI
22 | | JANUARY 15, 2017
T
HE Indo Express shop gets busy
at night. One by one, customers
with tanned complexions gath-
er in front of a store selling Indo-
nesian food, such as instant noo-
dles and peyek (a deep-fried sa-
vory cracker). After buying their
goodies, they hang out in front of the store
andchatinJavanese.Acoldwindwasblow-
ing that Thursday night three weeks ago.
These people are Indonesian migrants
(TKI) mingling with ships’ crews (ABK), at
Keelung, a city about 23 kilometers from
Taipei in Taiwan.
Located on Shin San Street in Chung
Zheng district, the shop owned by an In-
donesian couple is a stone’s throw from
KeelungHarbor.“Atnight,ships’crewstend
to come here,” Bui Meng, 46, a shop own-
er who worked over a dozen years in Sing-
kawang, West Kalimantan, told Tempo.
That night, many ships were docked
and their crews were on a break, walking
around.
Dwi Tantri, 49, took advantage of his
break to meet up with other Indonesian
workers, ship crews in particular. Occa-
sionally they would hold a religious study
session on a Thursday night. Tantri of-
ten sits down with workers who are hav-
ing problems with their bosses. “Some-
times they just want to let it all out, in order
to calm down and be ready to work again,”
said Tantri.
There are also many Indonesian crew
members in the city of Kaohsiung, some
320 kilometers from Taipei. Nearly all of
those who work on fishing vessels and
have Letter of Guarantee (LG) documenta-
tion can be found in that port town. It is es-
timated that there are thousands of them.
Keelung is a town with a special port for
fishing boats known as the Cianjhen Port
Area. It is located about 10 kilometers from
the city center.
On Monday four weeks ago, the docks
LIVING BY THE DOCK OF
THE BAY
Indonesian crews live on board their ship at portside. They get their
kicks visiting food stalls which remind them of home.
1. Indo Express shop.
2. Amigo Miami cafe.
1

10. JANUARY 15, 2017 | | 23
TWO TYPES OF CREWS
Whiletheybothworkatsea,theyarepaidandtreateddifferently.In
themaritimeworld,therearetwotypesofseamen,namely‘Localship
crewmember’and‘LGcrewmember’.InthecaseofTaiwan,herearethe
differences:
ILO CONVENTION NO.188
InternationalLaborOrganization(ILO)ConventionNo.188,
adoptedin2007inGeneva,setsouttheminimalstandardsfor
fishingvesselsforgoodworkingconditions.Indonesiahasyetto
ratifythisconvention.Herearesomeimportantpointsfromthis
convention:
Minimalworkingageonfishingvesselsis16yearsofage.
Involvingcrewsundertheageof18atnightisprohibited
Nocrewmembersmayworkonafishingvesselwithoutavalid
medicalcertificatewhichstatesthattheyarefitforworkatsea.
Aworkagreementforbetweenshipownerandcrewmembersis
obligatory
Ifaboatsailsformorethanthreedays,theship’screwisgivenat
least10hoursofrestevery24hoursand77hoursofrestevery7
days.
Shipownersmustprovidetheircrewwithdrinkingwaterand
sufficientamountofnutritiousfood.
LOCAL SHIP CREW MEMBERS:
WorkonTaiwaneseshipsand
sailinTaiwanwaters
Holdlegalsailingdocuments
OfficiallylistedasIndonesian
fisheryworkersinTaiwan
SalarypaidinTaiwandollars,
equivalenttoaboutUS$600
Providedwithhealthinsurance
andIDcardsasforeign
residents
LG CREW MEMBERS:
Sailininternationalwaterson
Taiwaneseships
Useatemporaryvisitvisaand
aLetterofGuaranteefromthe
recruitingcompany
Someholdonlyillegalsailing
documents
NotlistedattheTaiwanLabor
Ministry
NotlistedattheIndonesian
ChamberofCommerceand
IndustryofficeinTaipei
SalaryofaboutUS$300-400per
monthinUSdollars
Nohealthinsuranceprovided
were lined with steel-hulled fishing boats.
Tens of youths could be seen walking back-
and-forth around the docks. Those ships
usually dock for a week, then set sail again
for several months. “Today many of the
crews are getting paid,” said Adi Suprianto,
25, a ship crewmember.
As the sun began to set, pushcart food
vendors began appearing on street
corners and around the docks. Near-
ly all of them sell Indonesian food,
such as pecel lele (fried catfish),
gado-gado (vegetable salad in pea-
nut sauce), and bakwan (a vegetable
fritter). An ounce of bakwan sells for
NT$30 or about Rp13,000. A cup of
Kapal Api brand coffee sells for the
same price.
Near the supermarket, local tax-
ies line up waiting for passengers,
usually ships’ crews wanting to go
into town, like four friends: Enggar
Wicaksono, Bayu Prima, Purwan-
to, and Diki. They are all 22 years
old, and work on the Guo Tong fish-
ingboat,whichsailsunderaTaiwan-
ese flag.
That night, Tempo joined them as they
walked around town. They were head-
ed for Wanhua Street in Sanmin district.
There were many Indonesian workers
there, among rows of shops with Indone-
sian names.
They frequent the eateries. Many Indo-
nesian dishes are on the menu, such as sa-
tay, chicken soup, soto babat (beef tripe
soup), nasi pecel (vegetable rice dish in pea-
nut sauce), and mendoan (soycake fritter).
TheaveragepriceforoneportionisNT$100
or about Rp42,000.
In addition to food, there are shops which
offer money transfer services. These shops
were the main destination of Bayu and his
associates. They send part of their wages to
their respective families. “We use the rest to
buy food and telephone time,” said Enggar.
After relaxing, they return to their re-
spective ships before sunup. They live on-
board, and the ships must be cleaned every
morning. ●
I N D O N E S I A N S L A V E S O N F I S H I N G V E S S E L S
2

11. 24 | | JANUARY 15, 2017
T
ENSof thousands of Indonesian shipping crews are believed to be vic-
tims of human trafficking and enslavement on Taiwanese ships. They
generallyworkonvesselssailingoninternationalwaters.Theyhaveno
legal documents and their recruiting agents in Indonesia are not reg-
istered with the Transportation Ministry. As a result, they are not offi-
ciallylistedasmigrantworkersinIndonesianorinTaiwan,wheretheir
shipsoriginatefrom.
ON HIGH WATERS
HELL
SOURCES:
INDONESIAN
TRANSPORTATION
MINISTRY,
INDONESIAN
FOREIGN MINISTRY,
INDONESIAN
CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE AND
INDUSTRY IN
TAIPEI, TAIWAN
LABOR MINISTRY,
TAIWAN FISHERIES
MINISTRY
TEXT AND
MATERIAL:
AHMAD NURHASIM,
ANTON SEPTIAN
INFOGRAPHICS:
MOERAT
ILLUSTRATION:
KENDRA H.
PARAMITA
BERTHING
Theseshipshavefourmainportsofcall.
AT SEA
Tunaboatscanstayatseaformonths
atatime.ManyIndonesiancrewdonot
stepfootonlandforthedurationoftheir
contracts.HereiswhereIndonesianLG
crewsmakeittofishingboats:
-Throughfourmainports.
-DirectlyonboardTaiwaneseboats
operatingininternationalwaters.
CATCHING TUNA
MostIndonesianseamenworkonTaiwaneselonglineships.Thesevesselscatchfish
bycasting1,000-4,000hooksatatimeintothewater.
MAIN CATCH
Tunaandskipjacktuna,
butthelinesalsocatch
non-commercialfishand
evenseabirds.
OPERATION SCHEDULE
5-10 HOURSTimefordropping
fishinglines
3-4 HOURSWaittime
TUNA LONG LINE SHIP
50-100
GROSS TONSWeight
15-26.5 METERSLength
±20Crew
Behindthelureofthefishingindustryisahuman
traffickingbusinessplacingcrewaboardTaiwan
ships.
CANDIDATES
CREW 2-year work
contract
Pay cut of to reimburse
various costs
BROKER
Brings in job-seeker
EXTRA WORK
Divingwithoutoxygen
tanktofixthepropellers.
CapeTown,
SouthAfrica
Mauritius
Taiwan
TAIWAN
Nanfang-ao
Keelung
Kaohsiung
Pingtung
5-10 HOURSTimeforpullinglines
backin
12 HOURSInbadweather
50-400 METERSFishingdepth
US$400-500
HUMAN TRAFFICKING BEHIND
THE FISHING INDUSTRY

12. JANUARY 15, 2017 | | 25
BAIT USED
Squid,chub
mackerels,bali
sardinella,small
inshorefish,and
milkfish.Kept
frozen.
FLOATS
Everytwominutesand30
seconds,acrewmember
attachesafloattothemain
lineandthrowsitoverboard.
Oneofthemisgivenaradio
antenna.
MAIN FISHING EQUIPMENT
Usuallylocatedatthebow
oftheshipinlargerolls,
thelinesareletoutfrom
thestern.
Length:
100-200kilometers.
BRANCH LINES
Branchlinesare
connectedtothemain
line,whiletheotherend
isforbaitedhooks.Aship
crewmembermustattach
abranchlinetothemain
lineeveryfiveseconds.
Numberofhooks:1,000-
2,000,butcanbeasmany
as4,000
805,889NumberofIndonesians
listedasseamen*
>40,000EstimatednumberofIndonesiancrew
membersonfreely-operatingTaiwanese
ships
8,765NumberofIndonesiancrew
membersofficiallylistedin
Taiwan**
15Numberofcasesofcaptainsbeing
murderedonTaiwaneseshipsinvolving
Indonesiancrewmembers
RECRUITING
AGENT
AGENT IN
TAIWAN
TAIWANESE
SHIPWork agreement Supplies crews
Commission of Salary cut as guarantee
Takes job-
seekers to
agents
Commission of
Fiji
Montevideo,
Uruguay
wan
Rp1.5-2 million
US$500-550 US$900
US$300-400Pays crew salary of
a month
*)2017
**)2014
I N D O N E S I A N S L A V E S O N F I S H I N G V E S S E L S