Nasrikah Paidin

Adviser, Persatuan Pekerja Rumah Tangga Indonesia Migran
Indonesia, Malaysia
Photo of Nasrikah Paidin
The DTP training encouraged me to have the strength to be brave.

Nasrikah Paidin is an Indonesian migrant worker who has been living in Malaysia since 1997. Her own experiences as a domestic worker have given her understanding of the vulnerabilities and lack of justice for migrant workers in Malaysia. There are extra difficulties in seeking action on violations of migrant workers’ rights and their human rights. In this very difficult environment, Nasrikah decided to become an advocate to raise awareness of abuses and to improve the situation for migrant domestic workers in Malaysia. As a non-citizen this work is particularly difficult and challenging.

She was invited to join the DTP/MFA training in Malaysia by the Malaysian CSOs working with and for migrant workers in Malaysia. They saw the need to reach out to Nasrikah.

“DTP training is a very good platform because it creates a space to encourage participants. It increased my capacity, ability, knowledge and confidence.”

In 2017/18, Nasrikah participated in the DTP/MFA year-long capacity building program on migrant workers’ rights in Malaysia where she gained a better understanding of human rights and the UN system, and built skills to conduct investigations and her activism more effectively, and learned to build networks with Malaysian and international organisations and NGOs.

“During the DTP training I met a lot of NGOs that offer support for migrant workers, creating a network for our own organisations which we can contact when we need help.”

Currently, Nasrikah is an adviser for Persatuan Pekerja Rumah Tangga Indonesia Migran (PERTIMIG) which is an Indonesian migrant domestic workers association in Malaysia. Within this organisation, Nasrikah’s work is focused on campaigning for migrant domestic workers to be acknowledged as workers rather than servants under Malaysian law to ensure their equal protection and rights under labour laws. Her campaigns focus on the need to treat migrant domestic workers as human beings deserving of the same respect, status and access to justice as local workers. Additionally, Nasrikah organises Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia and provides practical assistance and support on domestic worker cases – where a domestic worker has not been paid or has been physically abused for example.

Due to the dangers associated with challenging governments and employers in Malaysia, Nasrikah has been able to effectively utilise the support and networks she formed through DTP and MFA and their Malaysian CSO partners to strengthen the voice of migrant domestic workers in Malaysia through solidarity in campaigning on national, regional and international levels. She has also implemented the knowledge she gained from the DTP/MFA training during her advocacy missions, particularly during meetings with government ministers in Indonesia and at the Indonesian embassy in Malaysia.

March 2021

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