Female Legislative Candidates Should Strive to Help Migrant Workers

Jakarta (Antara) - Female legislative candidates in the upcoming legislative elections are required to focus on the interests of migrant workers, who are mainly women with poor educational backgrounds, according to a candidate. "The female legislative candidates have a lot of homework to do. They have to strive to improve the fate of migrant workers, made up of a majority of poorly educated women," Indonesian Unity and Justice Party (PKPI) legislative candidate Bea Larasati Iskandar said here on Saturday. She noted that migrant workers have long been spoken of as the heroes, but ironically they never received government policies favoring them. "They still must fight alone for their fate, without receiving adequate protection from the government, and now is the time for female legislators to fight for migrant workers," said Bea, who has been involved in politics for more than 14 years. Bea pointed out that various legal regulations have been created for migrant workers, but have yet to be properly enforced. "Migrant workers have made many contributions to the state, but they have received nothing in return from the government. Therefore, the female legislators should fight for them," Bea said. (*)