Perkumpulan Sembada Bersama Indonesia, or more commonly known as Sembada Bersama, was founded in 2024 by a number of labour activists in Indonesia. We recognise that most trade unions in Indonesia are not really connected to the millions of Indonesian migrants working abroad, including on the border between Indonesia and Sabah, East Malaysia. Sembada Bersama has carried out humanitarian work, monitoring and fact-finding missions, campaigned on migrant workers’ rights and provided legal assistance to migrant workers deported from Sabah, Malaysia. Sembada Bersama also works to organise undocumented migrant workers in Sabah.
Sembada Bersama was also set up to support the labour movement in its struggle for safer and fairer workplaces. We recognise that trade unions in Indonesia are not fully addressing the issue of safer and healthier workplaces at the core of their movement. In fact, hundreds of thousands of Indonesian workers suffer work-related accidents every year, and we have no credible data on how many workers suffer from occupational diseases. To help, Sembada Bersama’s mission is to provide practical information and educational materials for the labour movement and victims’ organisations to navigate and address the issues of dangerous and hazardous workplaces. We believe that the principle of universal health is inseparable from safer and healthier workplaces. Workers should not have to work in conditions that lead to illness or death.