Memories of Legal Aid at Tenaganita

today marks the end of my legal aid at Tenaganita - 14 days of compulsory legal aid as part of the completion of pupillage in Malaysia.

to begin with, it was my second choice after AWAM, and in truth, it was spurred by this.

people thought it had a lot to do with Women's Rights - i think the -nita part in the name fooled all of them. but it was actually all about migrant workers and their rights.

training was a blast, but it didn't prepare me for what came to be. i started out with documentation of cases - boring and mind numbing. and calculation of wages, which gave me a headache.

later i progressed to interviewing the migrant workers who came to the centre with their complaints. myanmarese illegals - chins who ran across the border looking for safety and shelter, only to find that there was none to be had here, only employers who fed them spoiled food scraps and locked them out without any reason.

one friday, i called up an employer to ask her side of the story once, and she yelled at me, demanding to know how the hell a fellow Malaysian could gang up with a foreign worker to oppress Malaysians and that she wanted to sue me and sue Tenaganita. i freaked out at first - which led to Lai Kuan's extremely kind gesture of taking me out to tea after our duty was over. i learned to keep calm and to handle such abusive people as a result, though. and the second time was a lot better.

another memorable incident was heading down to Klang by bus with 2 Indians (from India) who couldn't speak Malay or English while my friend, Wee Woon and i couldn't speak a word of Tamil. we ended up in the Indian quarter, negotiating with a travel agent who was holding on to the Indians' passports. we depended on sign language to communicate - chicken and duck talk again!!! Wee Woon pounced on the nearest Indian man to translate for us. (the Indian women at the bus stop were giving us funny looks as we were the only Chinese there) and then we went in and settled matters.

after this was over, the Indians and Wee Woon and myself shared a packet of 'kacang puteh' outside the travel agency. phew.
then it was time to take 2 other Indians to make a claim at the Port Klang Labour Dept. (which turned out to be in Pandamaran, NOT Port Klang - a lot nearer) . luckily these 2 Indians could speak Malay. :P
the funny bit was when i had finally transcribed his story - only the Malaysian part, since the Indian part was long and written in Hindi, the labour officer called the employer who shouted over the phone, which i held at a distance (see, i learned from my earlier experience) ...
SAYA HANTAR MEREKA BALIK TONGSAN BARU TAU!
er, in case you failed to notice, the workers were INDIAN. meh. :P

ultimately the day ended with marvelous Bak Kut Teh and Cendol - 3 cheers for delicious Klang food courtesy of Wee Woon, native Klangite. :)

i cannot forget how i helped negotiate/mediate the case of 40 Bangladeshi workers and an irate sub-contractor and i cheered when he was willing to return their passports (btw, it's an offence to detain a person's passport without their consent) all the way in Bangi Labour Dept. in the end, i acted as a sort of court interpreter/registrar.

and how i fell on my last day of duty, just outside the Subang Jaya Labour Dept. the Bangladeshi worker tried to pull me up, but i think he made my arm's injuries worse. :(
i limped all the way to KL and i limped all the way back.

i remember also the Sudoku moments on Friday, when Lai Kuan, Melanie, Zaza and Lally and myself played Sudoku to quicken the pace of a slow day. i learned to like Sudoku because of that, although i m still horribly slow. and careless. amazing, since i have a phobia of numbers to begin with. i m also amazed at how Lai Kuan and Zaza could discuss how to construct Sudoku puzzles when i was struggling away. you will need something to do when you wait at the Immigration Dept in Putrajaya - it puts any local wet market to shame, how disorganised and hot it is.

all in, i felt an amazing sense of satisfaction at having helped a few migrant workers achieve justice. the things we Malaysians are capable of - abuse and withholding wages, it's nothing to be proud of.
and i am angry at the system which can afford to make the rich richer but can do nothing to protect the rights of Myanmarese refugees. for crying out loud, where do you expect them to go? what do you expect them to do? you give them refugee cards, but what's the use? they can still get detained by the police, by RELA, locked up just like animals.

thank you to my legal aid mates esp Wee Woon and Lai Kuan, Flo and the other people at Tenaganita, Melanie, Steven ... i've learned so much. and i appreciate the support and advice, Lai Kuan. really do! :)

so if you're chambering in KL, on the verge of picking something for legal aid - i would recommend Tenaganita. you WILL make a difference, it depends on you.