Unseen Faces, Unheard Voices

I have been part of a long term capacity building project to develop women leaders among the Orang Asli community (Indigenous People) organized by Empower (Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor). The communities we have been working with come specifically from Peninsular Malaysia. At the beginning we started out with a basic focus group discussion in 2014 with 13 women, to find out what the burning issues were. Tijah Yok Chopil  This brings me to an amazing activist who has really challenged the stereotype of Orang Asli women, Tijah Yok Chopil . She commands great respect for her ceaseless work challenging land grabbing of customary lands and confronting the state for human rights violations. Her journey has been long and of late, she shares of having lost long time comrades to the struggle. Tijah was instrumental in bringing together this group of women who became our initial trainees under this program. It was a purely capacity building workshop to increase women's lea...

PT Andalas IntiAgro Lestari I surveyed this plantation yesterday which is located in Aek Kuo, Labuhanbatu Utara. It is part of the plantations under Asian Agri (Oil Palm Producer) in North Sumatra. There about 400 workers employed in this plantation, non-management staff. There are various tasks done by workers, harvesting, spraying, fertilizing and general work. Women work as daily wage workers or as 'buruh harian lepas' as they are known here. They earn IDR 61,000 per day ( RM19.29) working from 6.30 am to 1.30 pm. They carry out a range of tasks - spraying (semprot), segregation fertilizer (menguntil), weeding, census taking, maintenance and fertilizing (memupuk).  Women's participation Women are recruited by the management of the plantation but not as permanent workers with benefits. These women's husbands work on the plantation and are permanent workers or 'SKU'. The work tasked to women is part of the plantation's production. Some ...

Rare finds It is quite rare to find women activists working on women workers' issues in the oil palm plantations of Indonesia. They are generally part of the administration but very few are involved in organizing workers. Generally, NGOs organizing labour are very focused on broad issues like wages, land grabbing and unfair treatment by capitalists and agribusinesses. The focus on women is minimal as a target group for organizing and considered for supplementary activities to support the men who are being organized.  They may have be aware of gender inequality but this does not extend to efforts to implement gender mainstreaming in the programmes and campaigns. There is still an obvious gap and women are not benefiting from programmes. A higher level of commitment and focus is required to ensure women benefit from labour organizing. Solidarity As a feminist researcher working on social justice issues affecting women in the oil palm industry, I want to establ...

I arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia on 1st March 2013. This portends my second phase of the research. I must admit, I was verily prepared for Indonesia. Many upheavals and changes had left me quite emotionally drained. Nevertheless, the work must go on. I was instantly shocked at how much things cost in Jakarta. Well definitely not as bad as KL. However, it would be straining a limited stipend. Backpackers - 6 Degrees, Jakarta Fortunately, the gods of travel were kind to me which led me to 6 Degrees, Cikini Raya, Jakarta. It turned out to be a mixed blessing. I was very worried about the lack of privacy but I was pleasantly surprised by the pods concept available at 6 Degrees. Yes, even a curtain can make a great difference. Plus I was paying ridiculously affordable rates in one of the most expensive cities in S.E.A. Food - killed me Ah...food which was my undoing entirely. Fooled by a very fortunately experience in Yogjakarta where I had a smorgasbord of street food and survived. ...

How does one conduct an in-depth interview without becoming emotionally moved by the powerful narrative unfolding before him/her? One must be a rock or an automaton to remain unaffected. I am all flesh, unfortunately. I try practicing being present, breathing and channeling love towards my interviewee throughout the process. I hope to make them understand that I am trustworthy and will handle their story with care and love. Yeah, is using love for research purposes a valid academic practice? Enter feminism. It is undeniable that, consciousness raising affects both the interviewer and the interviewee. I can think of three valid scenarios where this can be proven. Acknowledgement of reality Women's lives are real, acknowledging that she lived in a rural community, had children, laboured in a plantation and raised her family is reality, as far as I am concerned. It is also but one experience which contributes to a larger narrative. When she tells her-story, she re-creates her ...

I am on a much needed holiday! I am exploring Davao and its wonders! I am not far away from work but I just needed to celebrate 50 household interviews in difficult circumstances. I also need the down time to work on my FGDs. I need to develop a kick ass framework that weaves into the workshop and empowerment activities must be suitable for their situation. I also need to give the heads up to both cooperatives on when I intend to carry out the FGDs. I am very certain that it will go well.

The knowledge of running a household is something that is often taken for granted. Since it is women's work it can't be rocket science, can it? Well, it is. Women run households with such exacting details because they work with very limited resources. One of the respondents today, exemplified this quality. She could tell me exactly how much detergent is required for 1 day's laundry and where to get the best bargain for it. She also could compare prices in the co-op store in Kenram to prices in most shops in Isulan. This is a video of Erlida Octavia who describes the cost of detergent and where she purchases it.  See her video here -  Erlida's Laundry Costs