Pork-Fed Indonesian Migrants Left With Bitter Taste in Taiwan

Jakarta Globe, Debby Wu, May 10, 2010

A foreign laborer working in Taiwan holding a ladle joins a rally asking the Taiwanese government to legislate legal protection. Three Muslims from Indonesia were "distraught and afraid" after their boss at a suburban Taipei factory forced them to eat pork over a seven-month period or face punishment, a Taiwan rights group said Monday. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, File)

The National Commission on Human Rights on Monday expressed anger over a report that three Indonesian Muslim women working in Taiwan had been force-fed pork by their employer.

“This goes against basic human rights, which include the right to freedom of worship,” commissioner Johny Nelson Simanjuntak told the Jakarta Globe. “How dare anyone force others to eat food they are prohibited from eating? They should be punished and made to apologize.”

The Associated Press reported on Monday that the three women were “distraught and afraid’’ after their boss at a Taipei factory forced them to eat pork over a seven-month period or face punishment.

Taipei prosecutors on April 26 indicted Chang Wen-lin, the owner of Shin Hua Hang Fashion Co. Ltd., for forcing the three women to consume pork during their September 2008 to April 2009 employment.

In their indictment, prosecutors said Chang believed it “would give the women more stamina for work” and threatened to dock their pay if they did not eat it.

Islam forbids its adherents from consuming pork because it regards pigs as unclean.

Susan Chen of the Taiwan International Workers Association said her organization cared for the three women beginning in April 2009 after they filed a complaint with Taipei county authorities and were removed from the factory by labor rights officials.

“They were distraught and afraid when they came to our shelter, partly because they thought they might be sent home,’’ Chen said. “They still showed a lot of fear when they met their employer again for the first time after their rescue during a meeting to discuss employment disputes.’’

Chen identified the women as Tarsinah, Suswati and Wasilah. She said they were now working at new jobs in Taiwan and did not want to comment on the case because they feared it could endanger their employment.

Chen said Chang initially hired the women as caregivers, but then ordered them to work from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day at his factory once they were in Taiwan. She said they were paid 1,370 Taiwan dollars ($42) a month — far less than the 17,000 Taiwan dollar minimum wage.

Manpower and Transmigration Ministry spokesman Budy Hartawan told the Globe the ministry would seek clarification from the Indonesian Economic and Trade Chamber in Taipei.

“We are going to ask them to protect our citizens,” he said, adding the case was unprecedented.