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Tri Tharyat (left), with Philippine attaché Arnel De Luna, urges helpers not to give loan sharks their passports. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Indonesian envoy calls on Hong Kong to do more to tackle loan sharks targeting domestic helpers

  • Consul general Tri Tharyat urges government to take strong action against illegal moneylending operations
  • Advises workers not to hand over their passports to anyone

Indonesia’s top envoy in Hong Kong has called on the city’s government to step up action against loan sharking syndicates that target domestic helpers, who are usually forced to surrender their passports in exchange for borrowing money.

Consul general Tri Tharyat also urged helpers not to hand over their passports to others and advised those who had fallen victim to loan sharks to report it to the Indonesian consulate or Hong Kong police.

The calls were made at a briefing at the Indonesian consulate in Causeway Bay on Sunday where Tharyat explained to about 50 participating helpers their rights while working in Hong Kong and provided general information about local laws.

Helpers from Indonesia relax on their day off. Photo: AFP
The briefing followed a high-profile case in July in which Hong Kong police arrested a local man suspected of running a HK$3 million (US$384,000) illegal moneylending racket and confiscated more than 800 Indonesian and Philippine passports, believed to have been used as collateral.

Investigation exposes agencies still ripping off domestic workers

Indonesian consulate representatives raised the issue with Hong Kong’s No 2 official, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, at a meeting earlier this month which Philippine consul general Antonio Morales also attended.

“The Indonesian consulate and the Philippine consulate met [Cheung] to convey our concern regarding many migrant workers becoming victims of illegal moneylending operations in Hong Kong,” Tharyat said.

“We requested the government of Hong Kong to take strong actions against those practices.”

Helpers on their day off in Hong Kong’s Central district. Photo: Alamy

There are about 360,000 foreign maids in Hong Kong, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia. Their minimum pay is HK$4,520 a month and employers must provide accommodation and food.

I had no choice. My family needed money
Victim of loan shark

Foreign helpers are not allowed to take up secondary employment. In many cases, they take out loans to pay unscrupulous job agencies that charge excessive fees. Some also face pressure from families to send more money home. They might then turn to loan sharks and hand over their passports.

A victim in the July case attended the briefing. The helper said she needed money so badly she approached a “street money lender” in June and borrowed HK$4,000 to wire back to her family in Indonesia. She was told to pay HK$440 a month in interest alone and repay the loan within six months.

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The woman, in Hong Kong for 18 years, said it was the first time she had to resort to borrowing from such a lender.

“I had no choice. My family needed money. And I have asked my employer to lend me money many times. It is not very good to keep bothering the employer too often,” she said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Act against loan sharks who target maids, Jakarta envoy urges HK officials
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