KUALA LUMPUR/JAKARTA: Since leaving his village in Indonesia to work abroad three decades ago, Wasito has never failed to send money home at Eid ...
KUALA LUMPUR/JAKARTA: Since leaving his village in Indonesia to work abroad three decades ago, Wasito has never failed to send money home at Eid to support family in the world's largest Muslim country.Coronavirus lockdowns around the world have forced companies to cut jobs or wages, and migrant workers such as Wasito are particularly vulnerable because of inadequate job protections.
"I did not dare to ask why I wasn't paid because I don't want to be fired, and I'm too embarrassed to borrow money again for Eid," the 49-year-old father of four told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.Eid al-Fitr is the most important festival in Indonesia, where nearly 90 per cent of its 260 million population are Muslim.
"Remittances are important for Indonesian families to support their basic needs like food, housing and education," said Pingkan Audrine, a researcher at the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies, a Jakarta-based think-tank. The World Bank says global remittances are set to fall by about 20 per cent - or US$100 billion - this year, about four times more of a drop than during the 2009 financial crisis.
", many migrant workers are asking their family for money," said Maizidah Salas, a coordinator at the non-profit Indonesian Migrant Workers' Union.STARTUP
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