Govt mulls inter-departmental body for workers<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government is planning to set up an inter-departmental body
\nto handle the settlement and protection of migrant workers and to
\novercome problems faced by the country's migrant workers.<\/p>\n
The national body, whose members consist of officials from
\nseveral departments, will take over the duties of a similar body
\ncurrently under the manpower and transmigration ministry.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab said on
\nWednesday here that the national body would be established soon
\nafter a Cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n
\"It is necessary to reorganize the settlement and protection
\nof Indonesian migrant workers by establishing a national
\ncoordinating body for their settlement and protection,\" he told a
\npress conference after a ministerial meeting.<\/p>\n
The establishment of the national body was part of the
\nmanpower and transmigration ministry's target for the first 100
\ndays of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration.<\/p>\n
It is expected that the national body would provide a one-roof
\nservice for migrant workers.<\/p>\n
\"It will cover all aspects, from ID cards, passports, job
\norders, contracts, training and so forth,\" Alwi said.<\/p>\n
The meeting has assigned the manpower ministry to make a study
\nfor the preparations needed to establish the new body.<\/p>\n
\"The body will involve other departments, labor recruiting
\ncompanies and non-governmental organizations,\" Alwi said.<\/p>\n
The government was also considering issuing special passports
\nfor migrant workers, Alwi said.<\/p>\n
Currently, hundreds of thousands of illegal Indonesian migrant
\nworkers are leaving neighboring Malaysia following an amnesty
\ngranted by Malaysia for them to return to Indonesia before Idul
\nFitri.<\/p>\n
Alwi said the government was currently preparing a
\nresettlement program for illegal migrant workers not eligible for
\nemployment in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
\"Malaysia requires migrant workers to have certificates of
\neligibility, to attend a 60-hour training program on Malay
\nculture, lessons in Malay and English as well as some knowledge
\nabout the laws there,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Some 300,000 of the 800,000 illegal workers are expected to
\naccept the amnesty Malaysian authorities have offered.<\/p>\n
Over 70 percent of them planned to go back to the neighboring
\ncountry, Alwi said. Open unemployment in Indonesia is currently
\nat 10 million.<\/p>\n
The government also offered migrant workers the opportunity to
\nwork at nine palm oil plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan,
\nwhich could absorb around 22,500 families.<\/p>\n
The resettlement program would cost a total of Rp 1.6 trillion
\nto construct housing and prepare arable land for palm oil estates
\nfor the families. The Ministry of Finance has approved the
\nscheme, Alwi said.<\/p>\n
Thousands of migrant workers deported from Malaysia over the
\nlast two years have been resettled in the small-holder palm oil
\nplantations in Natuna, Riau; Sanggau, West Kalimantan, and
\nNunukan, East Kalimantan.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-mulls-inter-departmental-body-for-workers-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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