Government declares war on illegal labor exporters<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government declared an all-out battle
\nagainst what it described as a well-organized network of illegal
\nlabor exporters at home and abroad whose scope had reached
\nalarming levels.<\/p>\n
Din Syamsuddin, director general for labor placement at the
\nMinistry of Manpower, told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the
\nministry was coordinating efforts with the Ministries of Foreign
\nand Home Affairs along with the National Police to ferret out the
\nnetwork conducting an illegal trade of Indonesian workers.<\/p>\n
Indonesian embassies have also approached international police
\nagencies to smoke-out the illegal network in countries such as
\nMalaysia, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
Din claimed that one of the leads followed together with the
\npolice led to the tracing of organizations smuggling workers
\nthrough Riau, Jakarta and Kalimantan to Hong Kong, Malaysia and
\nSaudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
In a combined effort, the Ministry of Manpower would focus its
\neffort on tracking group labor organizations which secretly
\ncollude with licensed labor export companies, Din explained. The
\npolice and Ministry of Home Affairs would concentrate on foiling
\nactivities and operations in rural areas such as East Java, South
\nSulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
Din conceded much work lay ahead as hundreds of workers,
\nmostly women, were recruited from those provinces every week and
\nemployed as prostitutes at Batam Island, Riau, before being
\nsmuggled to Malaysia or other countries.<\/p>\n
\"These workers face an uncertain future. They have no
\nnecessary documents to work overseas,\" he said.<\/p>\n
President B.J. Habibie recently issued a presidential decree
\nappointing the National Police chief along with the Ministers of
\nManpower, Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs as members of the
\nCoordinating Board of Labor Export (BP2TKI).<\/p>\n
Din chided labor export companies for their lack of concern
\nand attention of workers, arguing that many companies merely
\nlooked upon them as commodity goods.<\/p>\n
He warned of stern action by the government if labor export
\ncompanies \"have no sense of nationalism or commitment to
\nimproving workers' welfare\".<\/p>\n
He added that four companies would be brought to trial soon
\nfor falsifying workers' passports sent to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
A disparaging note also came from within the Association of
\nIndonesian Labor Export Companies (APJATI) itself.<\/p>\n
Yunus Yamani, the association's deputy secretary-general,
\nurged the organization's executives to step down, calling them
\nunprofessional, uncooperative with the government and working
\nmerely for their interest.<\/p>\n
The congress was officially opened by Minister of Manpower
\nFahmi Idris in Bogor, West Java, on Friday.(rms)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/government-declares-war-on-illegal-labor-exporters-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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