Tekongs and Migrant Workers

Every year, about 50,000 male and female migrant workers from West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province head overseas in search of employment. This area is the second largest supplier of laborers after East Java, many of them ending up in neighboring Malaysia: the women as domestic maids and the men working in rubber or palm oil plantations. Despite the presence of government recruiting offices, almost all of the workers in NTB turn to local middlemen, from processing their paperwork to getting them their jobs. These groups of brokers, locally known as tekongs, have grown immensely wealthy from this business of exporting workers, consequently wielding considerable influence and power over the villagers. Gita Lal and stringer Pikong Rachmawati reports on the tekong syndicates of NTB.