To get a sense of Yuni Andarwati’s dedication to service in the migrant community, you only need to visit her YouTube channel, @yuniandarwati. She currently has more than 182,000 subscribers, though the most impressive numbers are within the content itself; since restarting her channel in 2018, Yuni has published more than 20,000 videos (yes, you read that right!) – that amounts to more than 7 videos every single day during the 7 years she has been active. 

Alongside her 350,000 followers on TikTok and more than 309,000 on Facebook, Yuni is a well-known and popular figure, with her direct, to-the-point manner of speaking earning her a reputation as an authoritative yet trustworthy voice amongst the Indonesian migrant worker population, both in Hong Kong and back home in Indonesia.

Yuni started her work abroad in Macau back in 1999. She worked for an employment agency, based in both Macau and Hong Kong, which focused on hiring migrant workers for the then-booming Macanese casino market. Through her work, she familiarised herself with the ins and outs of employment policy and hiring procedures for both Macau and Hong Kong. This invaluable experience helped shape her now successful blogging career.

In 2000, she married a Hong Kong permanent resident and relocated to Hong Kong, where she started a family and found employment with a Hong Kong-based employment agency. Her work with the Indonesian community and all the challenges they faced inspired her to start her YouTube channel back in 2012. Initially, the channel didn’t gain much traction, so after a while, due to a lack of interest and views, she decided to put it on hold. 

However, Yuni continued her work with the community, and over the years, she became very familiar with all kinds of different issues that migrant domestic workers (MDWs) face. Workers would often call or message her about their problems at all times of the day and night – regardless of whether she was off the clock from work or on her holiday. She felt there was a need for a centralised source of information that was reliable, accessible, and easily understood. So, in 2018, Yuni restarted her YouTube channel. 

Armed with a wealth of knowledge and experience gained over the years, the channel went from strength to strength, quickly gaining the attention and support of the city’s MDW population.

Since then, Yuni has also become a Key Opinion Leader (KOL) for many Hong Kong and Indonesian organisations, including the Anti-Deception Coordination Centre (ADCC) of the Hong Kong Police, who have praised her unguarded style of blogging and her direct approach to her audience. 

Touching a wide variety of topics, Yuni shares the top subjects her audiences request on the regular: “[Indonesian MDWs] often ask about Hong Kong employment and immigration law. Most of them in the community just do their jobs and wait to get paid. They work hard, but often do not know their rights or the rule of law in Hong Kong.”

“I have covered many, many topics over the years,” she continues, “including money laundering, online selling, LGBTQ relationships, employment-related questions like days off and long service pay, and even fake jobs for men.”

As her popularity and status as a leader in the MDW community grew, guest speaker invitations from media outlets – such as Kick Andy on Metro TV, one of the most popular television shows featuring one of the most followed online personalities in Indonesia – became more frequent.

“The Indonesian government has also been reaching out to me to talk about the problems migrants face here in Hong Kong. In August 2023, I met with President Joko Widodo. I have also met with the new Foreign Minister Sugiono and Rep. Uya Kuya of Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia (Indonesian House of Representatives). I was a guest speaker for Badan Pelindungan Pekerja Migran Indonesia (Indonesian Migrants Protection Agency), more commonly known as BP2MI, to talk about migrant issues here in Hong Kong,” says Yuni.

Given how much time she spends blogging and talking to Indonesian MDWs in need, what does Yuni like to do in her own limited spare time? “I love dim sum so I often go to yum cha (literally translated as ‘drink tea’, yum cha is a Chinese meal eaten in the morning or early afternoon) with my family,” she shares.

“I love my work and I love living here in Hong Kong. Learning about not only the culture but also the rules and laws around employment. It has been a big help to me and my work for the Indonesian migrant worker community.”