Govt promises to improve workers' image overseas<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Newly appointed Director General for Labor
\nPlacement Sirajudin Syamsuddin pledged yesterday to improve the
\nimage of Indonesians working overseas, saying there would be a
\nmore selective process for sending them abroad.<\/p>\n
\"We will no longer send unskilled workers. We will improve
\nlegal protection for troubled workers and help improve their
\nsocial welfare,\" Syamsuddin said after his inauguration ceremony
\nhere.<\/p>\n
Minister of Manpower Theo L. Sambuaga swore in Syamsuddin to
\nreplace Jack Iskandarsyah, and Brig. Gen. (Army) Martono as
\ninspector general to replace Commodore (ret.) Amin Soemarsono.<\/p>\n
Syamsuddin, better known as Din Syamsuddin, was born in
\nSumbawa Besar, East Nusa Tenggara, in 1958.<\/p>\n
He said his ministry would also simplify the currently
\ncomplicated procedures by introducing a single-location service
\nfor those interested in overseas work.<\/p>\n
Syamsuddin, who now heads the Center for Research and
\nDevelopment at the ruling Golkar headquarters, made newspapers'
\nheadlines in 1995 when he accused soothsayer Permadi Satrio
\nWiwoho of blasphemy in connection with the mass production and
\nsale of the latter's controversial audio tapes of his speech in
\nCentral Java.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the Indonesian Association of Labor Exporting
\nCompanies (Apjati), Abdullah Puteh, said his organization would
\nbe stricter in controlling labor exports to avoid the sending of
\nunskilled and untrained workers.<\/p>\n
\"We fully support the government's endeavor to improve the
\nimage of Indonesian workers working overseas,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Thousands of illegal Indonesian migrant workers have been
\ndeported from Saudi Arabia and Malaysia in the last seven months.<\/p>\n
Puteh warned the association would also take stiffer actions
\nagainst companies proven guilty of treating workers inhumanely
\nand of violating rulings on labor exports.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Jakarta Military Chief Maj. Gen. Safrie Sjamsudin
\nsaid yesterday the Armed Forces would step up its efforts to
\nprevent the sending of illegal workers overseas.<\/p>\n
\"We will work harder to chase unauthorized companies which are
\nbelieved to be behind the sending of illegal workers,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The unauthorized companies recruited the workers from Java and
\nEast Nusa Tenggara and then smuggled them into Malaysia without
\nrequired documents, such as working visas and passports.<\/p>\n
More than 1,000 illegal workers deported by the Malaysian
\ngovernment arrived in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday. They are
\npart of more than 13,000 illegal workers deported by Malaysia.
\n(rms)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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