Officials found extorting workers to be punished<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief yesterday
\npromised to look into reports that labor officials are extorting
\nmoney from workers arriving at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport from
\nother countries.<\/p>\n
\"I will order an investigation into the report and see to it
\nthat those found guilty will be punished,\" he told journalists
\nafter installing Commodore Amin Sumarsono as the inspector
\ngeneral at the ministry here.<\/p>\n
Sumarsono, a former senior officer at the Strategic
\nIntelligence Agency (BAIS), now called the Armed Forces
\nIntelligence Agency (BIA), replaced Abdillah Nusi -- who has been
\nnamed director of the state-owned insurance company PT Astek.<\/p>\n
Latief asked newspapers to name any officials under his
\nministry who have extorted money from workers who have just
\narrived from their work overseas.<\/p>\n
\"All government officials have name tags on their chests...
\nMention their identities in your papers to make it easier for us
\nto investigate,\" he told reporters.<\/p>\n
The latest report on alleged extortion of workers returning
\nfrom abroad was carried in the yesterday's Kompas newspaper.<\/p>\n
The report said workers, mostly women who work as housemaids
\nin Saudi Arabia, were forced to pay Rp 30,000 each to officials
\nof the Ministry of Manpower. Some workers said officials forced
\nthem to pay another Rp 200,000 to Rp 300,000 for transportation
\nto their home villages.<\/p>\n
The minister said it was \"irrational and unacceptable\" that
\nworkers were made to pay that much for transport. \"But I will
\nhave it checked,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said that a team of the Manpower Ministry has been
\ntemporarily deployed at the airport to handle Indonesian workers
\nwho are going to and coming from abroad.<\/p>\n
He also said he would meet with Minister of Transportation
\nHaryanto Dhanutirto to discuss ways of transporting Indonesian
\nworkers from overseas to their home villages.<\/p>\n
Latief said he hopes that the transportation minister will
\nprovide a special lounge at the airport for workers who depart to
\nand come from abroad.<\/p>\n
The government, he said, is considering proposals to open
\nairports other than Soekarno-Hatta for arrivals of workers from
\noverseas. \"Ideally, if a worker's home village is in East Java,
\nhe or she needs only to stop over at the airport and continue the
\nflight to Surabaya.\"<\/p>\n
Small business<\/p>\n
Also yesterday, the manpower minister met with the central
\nboard of the Association of Indonesian Small-Scale Businesses
\n(HIPLI) to discuss further cooperation between the ministry and
\nHIPLI.<\/p>\n
HIPLI Chairman Feber Purba told reporters after the meeting
\nthat the two sides agreed to set up a small joint team to seek
\npossibilities in what fields they could cooperate.<\/p>\n
HIPLI now needs over 66,000 skilled university graduates to
\nprovide consulting service for around 34 million small-scale
\nbusinesses in the country, he said. (rms)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/officials-found-extorting-workers-to-be-punished-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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