21,000 workers duped by insurers

21,000 workers duped by insurers

JAKARTA: A labor observer warned the government of an emerging
crisis from after some sort of tacit permission was granted to
three unauthorized private companies to run an insurance scheme
for workers employed overseas.

So far, the three companies have collected Rp 3.4 billion
(US$400,000) from at least 21,000 workers who paid Rp 160,000
each in premiums.

"The three companies are not included on the list of five
companies authorized by the Finance Ministry to run the insurance
plan for Indonesian workers overseas," Luthfi A. Hamdoen, also a
labor activist, said here on Thursday.

He chose not to identify the three companies, but recent
reports claimed that PT Wali Amanah was one of the three that had
been collecting premiums from workers employed in the Middle
East.

Under the Article 8 of Law No. 2/1992 on insurance, the
Finance Ministry has authorized only five insurance companies to
for the insurance program for Indonesian workers overseas. The
five are PT Asuransi Jasindo, PT Asuransi Bumi Putra Muda, PT
Asuransi Bina Griya Upakara, PT Parolamas and PT Asuransi Jiwa
Life.

"We should learn from the collapse in the past of an insurance
company which collected US$28 million in insurance, which is
mainly meant to protect the workers interests, but thousands of
workers who got into some trouble in their work place had never
received any support or compensation," said Luthfi. -- JP