Eni Lestari

Eni Lestari is an Indonesian domestic worker in Hong Kong and a migrant rights activist. She is the current chairperson of the International Migrants Alliance, the first-ever global alliance of grassroots migrants, immigrants, refugees, and other displaced people.

After escaping an abusive employer, Eni became an organiser for migrant workers, particularly domestic workers. In 2000, she founded the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Hong Kong which later expanded to Macau, Taiwan, and Indonesia. For over two decades, Eni has been actively empowering migrants, holding important positions in various organisations, alliances, and formations working on the issue of migration, trafficking, and women. She has received nominations and awards from various institutions, such as Inspirational Women from BBC 100 Women, Public Hero Award from RCTI (Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia), Indonesian Club Award, Non-Profit Leader of Women of Influence from American Chamber Hong Kong, and Changemaker from Cathay Pacific.

Since engaging with APWLD, Eni Lestari has served on various Programme Organising Committees and Regional Councils. Her analytical mind is especially acute regarding the work and living conditions of migrants, and as a migrant herself, she speaks from the heart.

APWLD interviewed Eni in December 2020 and below is her story.

From domestic worker to migrant rights activist

I never dreamt of being an overseas migrant. But the Asian Financial crisis in 1997 crashed our local economy and forced me, and many others, to seek employment in other countries. I became a migrant domestic worker in Hong Kong to survive and support my family back home. But the beautiful life I imagined was an illusion. I experienced exploitation and violations.

I could not seek a different type of employment. Hong Kong denies Migrant Domestic Workers (MDWs) the right to be permanent residents or to shift into other types of formal work. So, I continued to work as a domestic worker while empowering my fellow migrants. I transformed myself from a victim into a migrant rights activist.

Thinking and Acting, Locally and Internationally

At the early stage of my activism, my work focused on organising MDWs in Hong Kong and Macau and returning migrants in Indonesia. In the mid-2000s, I participated in the forums organised by APWLD about women migrants and the Domestic Workers Convention known as C189. These activities helped me better understand why MDWs in Hong Kong and other countries in Asia are not protected. After relentless efforts from MDWs, C189 was finally adopted in 2011 and has become an important tool for the advancement of MDW rights worldwide. Nevertheless, most national governments refuse to ratify it and domestic workers remain unprotected. 

I was elected as the chairwoman of the International Migrants Alliance (IMA) in 2008. This provided me with a global perspective on the movement of migrants across the regions. I finally understood that the situation and struggle of migrants everywhere are the same. Regardless of their ethnicities, sectors, religion, and countries of employment, migrants confront similar challenges—gross exploitation and oppression by governments, corporates, or employers. Migrants are treated merely as commodities in exchange for remittances and cheap labour to advance neoliberal projects.

IMA strives to understand the bigger context of current forced migration—its root causes, schemes, and consequences on migrants and communities. For example, the discriminatory visa policies confronted by Hong Kong migrants are also experienced by migrants around the world. The European Union creates various policies to prevent migrants from entering Europe, and so does the US government. This world phenomenon is manufactured to restrict the mobility of migrants and to make migrants obedient to their host country authorities through the visa system. 

Whenever migrant organisations protest low wages and poor working conditions, the local governments always counter our campaigns by telling us to ‘take it or leave it.’ Under the current migration regime, migrants enjoy zero privileges, no matter how long we work and contribute to the host countries. Migrants will always be treated as second-class citizens or, worse, as modern-day slaves. 

Prior to the formation of IMA, there was an absence of migrants’ self-representation in policy discussions and migration agenda at national, regional, and international levels. Most discussions focused on the working conditions of migrants such as rest days, salary, etc., but left other major issues such as discriminatory visa processes, racism, imprisonment, and deportation. In most talks, the structural problems which force millions to leave their homelands—poverty, unemployment, and conflicts or wars—were not even brought up.  

IMA asserts that organised grassroots migrants must represent themselves in the migration agenda as we are the only ones with lived experience and know best the reality of migration. This is the only way to address the gaps in migrant rights.

Movement of Women Migrant Domestic Workers in Hong Kong

Since the 1980s, migrant organisations and advocates have been pushing for policy reforms in the treatment of MDWs in Hong Kong. 

Our relentless campaigns have resulted in annual increases in wage levels, even while the Hong Kong government still refuses to include MDWs in Minimum Wage Legislation. The wage for MDWs is very low, legalised through the Minimum Allowable Wage system. Reviewed and dictated by a few officials within the Labor Department annually, it often results in wage cuts especially in times of crisis. Fighting for a wage increase has been a yearly battle for us. We cherish our victories but our advocacy for a living wage continues.  

In 2003, the Hong Kong government cut our wage by HK$400 and six months later, imposed the same on the employers of foreign domestic workers. It became a policy for five years. In protest, we filed a judicial review at the high court, reaching the Court of Final Appeal. We lost that case, but we stimulated public discussion, with the levy angering many employers. The government eventually abolished the levy. Our legal case helped keep the issue in the public focus.

We have been in a long battle against two policies that perpetuate forced labour and modern-day slavery by keeping the MDWs docile and their wages cheap. The live-in rule requires MDWs to live with their employer, while the two-week rule requires them to find a new employer and obtain a new work visa within two weeks of the expiration or termination of their employment contract. To battle those policies, we documented how they violate the human rights of MDWs and produced research to reveal their consequences. The policies remain, but more people are aware of such exploitative practices. 

We also campaigned to support the case of Erwiana and other MDWs who were abused. Erwiana’s case garnered public attention and local and international communities finally recognised the problems faced by MDWs in Hong Kong. Three years later, a new regulation on employment agencies was legalised.

Growing Together With APWLD

My involvement with APWLD started nearly 20 years ago. Back then, I was new to activism, advocacy, and promoting the condition of MDWs in Hong Kong. Since then, I have learned the analytical framework of GFMP (Globalisation, Fundamentalism, Militarism and Patriarchy). Everyone, regardless of origin country or host country, is suffering from the same consequences of a global capitalist system—impoverishment, displacement, and violations of labour, gender, and human rights. Inspired by such understanding, we embrace everyone and anyone in a similar situation. 

I also learned about Development Justice, which provides an in-depth analysis and perspective on exploited people around the world and is therefore relevant to migration and my work as a migrant worker activist. Along with these tools to educate migrants on the root causes of forced, the Theory of Change teaches us to envision long-term goals such as building effective and sustainable migrant grassroots movements. 

My relationship with APWLD deepened, and I joined the Migration Task Force in early 2003, which later transformed into a Programme Organising Committee (POC). I became the focal person for the Migration POC from 2009 to 2019. 

Organising migrants has always been a challenge as we are constantly in precarious situations, facing worsening working conditions, labour violations, arrests, deportation, and other human rights abuses by employers, agencies, and governments. This is why recruiting and maintaining the active participation of migrant organisations and their advocates remain constant challenges within APWLD. Nevertheless, through our persistent efforts, we were able to recruit more members in 2016-2017 and involve them in APWLD’s works. 

APWLD provides a space for migrants to not only speak about their own issues but also engage with other sectors through forums, workshops, and training. As a result, there is a growing awareness of the interconnectedness of our issues among our partners, especially in Asia and the Pacific. The APWLD played a key role in enabling the grassroots movement, not only of migrants but also of farmers and indigenous women to engage directly with policymakers at regional and international levels. 

The development of the situation under neoliberalist schemes requires us to continuously learn and evolve so we could become more effective in addressing the emerging issues and organising the grassroots. Through APWLD, I was able to connect with international formations such as the UN as part of the CSO delegation from Asia to evaluate UN’s Millennium and Sustainable development goals. 

I joined the Regional Council (ReC) in 2017 so I can learn from my fellow women activists and contribute to strengthening APWLD as well as the women’s movement in Asia-Pacific. Because migration is a cross-border issue with roots in our home countries, learning how to foster close cooperation between organisations in different countries under the APWLD Theory of Change principles will strengthen the migrant’s movement across nationalities and as a sector.

Ways Moving Forward 

I think more organisational discussions are needed to address the gap between the members of the Regional Council (ReC) and the Programme Organising Committee (POC). Being a part of ReC does not mean we represent POC members and many current ReC members might not be members of POC as well. In my case, I am a ReC member but I am no longer an OC member which means I no longer engage with POC’s works. I might know of some activities, but I do not know their development, which ideally should be known by ReC as the highest decision-making body in APWLD. Due to this gap, the ReC members are unfamiliar with the POC’s most current needs and to some extent, the discussion in ReC does not reflect the concrete problems confronted by POC. 

To address the issues of intergenerational relationships and transition between the older and young feminists, there is a need to recruit younger women to APWLD. More platforms need to be created to attract and provide spaces for their active participation. For the sustainability of the feminist movement, it is very important to embrace and integrate them into our movements as early as possible, so they can be exposed to the many issues facing women and for them to learn from existing experiences. There should be a module for growing the next generation of feminists. Introductory modules should be developed at APWLD and passed on to leaders of different organisations for the women to apply them to their own contexts. We especially need to educate the grassroots women activists. 

The COVID-19 pandemic posts greater challenges to all of us. Our livelihood and future are at stake as neoliberal schemes are intensified for the greater profit of global capitalism. Based on this reality, there is an urgent need for APWLD to grasp the concrete condition on the ground and develop new strategies for advancing the feminist movement in the region.