Chapter 17

Managing the Anti-trafficking Campaign: Breakthrough into Transparency of Local Government Policy (the Case of Farmer’s Voice Radio Network JRSP in West Java Province)

By Dina Listiorini

The problem of women and children trafficking has become an important challenge which should be addressed as soon as possible. At the moment, Indonesia is ranked second highest country for illegal human trafficking in the Human Trafficking Reports which were released by US State Department in 2007.

West Java province is placed at the second level on human trafficking in Indonesia, after East Java province. The International Labour Organization Report from 2004 stated that the children who become sex workers came from Indramayu, Subang, Cirebon, Banten, Karawang, Cianjur, Sukabumi, Kuningan dan Bandung. The worst provincial government record s that of the government of West Java Province which did not have a local act constituting human trafficking, although Law No. 21/2007 on Combating Criminal Acts of Trafficking in Persons was launched in April 2007.

Mrs. Yurinda Hidayat, or Mrs. Ida, the coordinator of Farmer’s Voice Radio Network (JRSP) is aware that West Java is a potential area for human trafficking, especially for women and children. She said that the dissemination of information on human trafficking has not spread into the villages yet. From the perspective of the local communities, people living in the villages do not know the legal way to get a job without the services of a broker. According to her, the recruiting activities of brokers may be increasing in the villages.

Realizing the importance of the trafficking problem in West Java and at the same time becoming aware that the area is now under the JRSP coordination radios, Mrs. Ida worked together with some stakeholders to arrange a campaign against human trafficking. The first program was making public service advertisements (PSA). This program was carried out together with JRSP, the Department of National Education and an NGO, Medianet. The public service advertisements consisted of integrated information, some of it was short dramas in Indonesian and local Sundanese language. The dramas were played out by men and women from community radios from Majalengka and Kabupaten Bandung. The PSA, formatted into a CD, has been aired everyday by every community radio under JRSP’s coordination.

The second step taken by JRSP to share the knowledge about human trafficking to the members was to hold a jamboree. This program was set up not only for the radio manager and staff but also for the listeners as representatives of the public. The jamboree was held for four days in Subang, West Java.

The two radio stations under JRSP coordination that I visited campaign against human trafficking. The radios are Citra Utami community radio, located in Cianjur, and Jati Anom community radio (JTA radio) in Indramayu, both in West Java province. Citra Utami used a local women’s forum (arisan) to discuss everything related to human trafficking. These women, by taking turns, discussed and spoke to the community directly from the studio. They talked and discussed issues related to the village government’s policy toward society, such as how to overcome or how to handle human trafficking problems in Cianjur, or about the identity card treatment cost clarification and clarification of rice distribution for the poor. Citra Utami therefore became a mediator for the problems between community members and the local government.

JTA FM Radio had local government officials participate in the radio shows to talk about anti human trafficking. One of them is Camat (Camat is a head of government at the district level). He is an active informant, talking once a week on JTA FM. Some problems tied to public services in the villages and in the district are shared on the radio with Camat as a host. He interviews people who work in certain fields who are part of the public service. For health problems such as cases of bird flu, Camat will interview the head of local health centre (Puskesmas). He will interrogate the immediacy plans of Puskesmas and efforts that will be carried out in order to handle the bird flu. Other times, Camat is interviewed by the radio. Once he did a radio talk show to discuss human trafficking problems in Indramayu. On the talk show, he warned the people in the village not to be flattered or persuaded by illegal agents. He also informed listeners that all documents must be filled legally if one wants to work in a big city or abroad as a migrant worker.

Not yet satisfied with only Camat as an informant who was giving instructions or directions to the public, the JTA radio manager, Mr. Saeni, is attempting to conduct discussions involving local community members, similar to what has been done by Citra Utami. There will be a forum for farmers, teenagers and mothers. For him, it is not easy in cases involving girls and mothers. Such circumstances have been caused by local social culture, which considers women, especially married women, as people who should not to be active outside of the house.

From these two radio stations, especially Citra Utami, there’s an effort from community radio to involve women. According to Oepen (Oepen, Manfred: 1994), this is related to three points that have become important characteristics for community radio: access, participation and self management. Access to media, means the public getting actual recognition of their right to information as a member of the community. In this case, Citra Utami (or JTA FM in the future) became an alternative media through which women may get the informationthey want or need. Secondly, the Citra Utami women’s group was given an opportunity to get involved and to participate in the communication process through radio. This means that women have the right to speak and have their opinion about what they like or dislike, especially about public services by local government. They also have the right to manage the information they get and discuss it in the studio and have it heard to by the public; but both Citra Utami and JTA did not reach the 3rd stage; the women do not have decision-making power in community radio’s management as a whole.

Even though it had not reached its full potential, what the two community radios have done has shown that local radio has attempted to give an opportunity to the public to participate, to give their opinion about the policies carried out by local village governments. Women’s participation levels, reached in the community of Citra Utami, are only on the first and second levels out of four levels of participation (Arnstein in Brancht and Tsourus, 1990).

The first stage is information sharing. This is the lowest level of participation. The change agent shares information to facilitate people’s actions. Here, what the people need is to understand the given information. On this level, both Citra Utami and JTA fulfill their function as media service, for they are shariing information which is needed by their community. Especially for Citra Utami, this action has been seen clearly, while this station gave a chance for the women’s group (gathering group) to discuss any important problems in their environment. For example, the women discussed the increased activities of illegal agents and labour brokers around Cianjur. The people sometimes do not know how much money they have to pay to have the documents prepared for a government office, because it seems unclear and not transparent; many illegal agents or labor brokers cheated young girls in village, promising such interesting positions such as becoming the ambassador of art but they were sold to be sex workers in other countries.

Citra Utami also gave the women an opportunity to learn, to criticize and to clarify other problems related to local government policy and services for the public. The uneven rice distribution for the poor and untransparent costs related to making an identity card are just some of the problems that might be discussed by the women in the studio. At this stage, the station does not only share the important information but also teaches women how to organize themselves as a women’s group who have the capability to manage information. At this point, Citra Utami entered the second stage of participation, that is, consultation. At this level of participation, people have the opportunity to share their questions, concerns, and reactions with the agents of change. Citra Utami has given women the chance to discuss and express their opinions about government policy and public services that are not satisfing them as citizens.

Even though this has given the women in the village access to the public sphere, Citra Utami still feels it is not easy to awaken the women so that they can speak and express their opinions on the radio on certain issues. Feeling shy or ashamed to talk, or feeling overwhelmed with their household duties are some weaknesses or barrieres for the women in the village, preventing them from participating in the community radio.

The difficulty of managing community participation, especially for women, has not only occurred at Citra Utami or JTA FM, but it is a common situation faced by almost all the community radio stations in Indonesia. A study conducted by Listiorini, Yo and Halomoan (2006) shows that several community radio stations in Yogyakarta province were finding it difficult to recruit broadcasters, station managers and others levels of management. A broadcaster of a community radio station in Bantul said that the polling done by his radio shows that only one per cent of people from the community are qualified or prepared to be an executive at management level, the majority prefer to be listeners.

Women’s participation at community radio stations in Indonesian society is not yet a generalized occurrence, let alone organized enough to become a pressure group pushing for government transparency. This situation is not easy and continues to be a challenge forNGOs, community radio workers, academician, so that together we can encourage women empowerment to claim their right to information access and management, in the hope of achieving a good governance for their communities.

References:

Bracht, Neil and Agis Tsouros. “Principles and Strategies of Effective Community Participation.” Health Promotion International 5 (1990).

Listiorini, Yo and Halomoan. Mapping Community Radio Kampung Base in Yogyakarta. 2006.

Oepen, Manfred, ed. Media Support and Development Communication in a World of Change. Berlin: Horlemann, 1994.