Welcome to BASE21

By Suriyadi, Indonesia worker

It has been over four years since I landed in Korea. When I arrived in 1997, due to the Asian financial crisis, I wasn't given enough work to make up my wages and for about two years after that I had to off my works a week per month.
Companies apply the minimum wage to trainees; therefore most trainees hope to get extra work. Though they might get tired, they can earn more.
In my case, I couldn't save, as I had to be with the training company for almost two years. When several months remained till my fulfilment of my contract, I decided I couldn't return to Indonesia. I paid back the $ 2,000 for the expenses to come to Korea in two years, but there was no money for my family or me to live on, which saw me become an illegal worker, something I never dreamed of. I escaped the training company and stay alert for police.
Korean people like to treat migrant workers as children who know nothing. And they regard us as a lower class. This attitude doesn't apply to every foreigner in Korea. It seems Korean people are less confident with Westerners and try to be polite. I can guess their thoughts about Asian migrant workers from a story that a friend of mine told me.

A Korean mother and her child sat next to my Indonesian friend on the subway. The little one asked her mother, "Mom, why does that man have a tanned face?" Her mother replied, "Because he doesn't wash. His from a poor country". This opinion basically comes from the tortured view and ignorance of Asian migrant workers.
It seems the Korean government and its people fear that we will continue living here. They particularly worry that we are going to marry Koreans in order to permanently live here. Even worse, is their biased view toward mixed marriages. One acquaintance of mine was associated with a Russian. People see the couple with a very strange view and reacted by saying, "Is she mad?" I have seeing many couples broken up because of the biased opinions they kept hearing.
The same people ask, "Why don't you leave Korea then?" I suppose many migrant workers have the similar reasons, but in my case, its because of the dream I had. I thought I could return to my homeland with enough money and skills to start my own business. My family still have big expectations of me. They think I'm doing OK always in Korea because Korea had a good standard of living. Well, this is the same thought I used to have, but I have barely any money, and with no skills or confidence, I can't go back. My dream seems slips further away everyday...