40 job seekers cheated

JEMBER, East Java: Forty workers are demanding compensation from the PT TSW labor agency for failing to send them to Malaysia as scheduled.

The workers claimed they had paid between Rp 350,000 (US$140) and Rp 400,000 in application fees to the company, which has its headquarters in Jambi.

"We are helping them reclaim their money from PT TSW," Soebagyo, an official at the manpower ministry's Jember office, told Antara.

Soebagyo said the job seekers had applied to do menial work in Malaysia.

"To make things complicated, the manpower supplier has closed down its branch office in Surabaya. Matters related to the problem have to be referred to its headquarters in Jambi," he said.

PT TSW claimed that it had an operational permit from the government when it began recruiting East Java villagers. (pan)