80,000 RI workers left unprotected overseas

JAKARTA (JP): Manpower and Transmigration Minister Al-Hilal Hamdi revealed on Wednesday that some 80,000 Indonesian laborers overseas have little protection, since they are not registered with the government-run insurance program.

"They cannot claim any compensation from the insurance program if they encounter any trouble at their workplace overseas," he said after signing a memorandum of understanding with Jordanian Ambassador Muhammed Ali Badher here on Wednesday.

He alleged that labor exporters may have collected US$20 from each of those workers to be included in the insurance program but the funds were not paid to the Finance Ministry, as required by the 1986 ministerial decree on overseas workers.

He cited a government loss totaling $1.6 million as a result.

Meanwhile Badher said that under the newly signed MoU, Jordan would distribute workers from Indonesia to be employed in the informal sector.

"Jordan needs thousands of workers as domestic helpers and baby-sitters," he said.

Separately, Jacob Nua Wea, a legislator of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) said the country must have a law to regulate migrant workers overseas, the recruitment of workers and their protection overseas.

"The Labor Export Association (Apjati) should draft a bill on migrant workers overseas and submit it to the House because it will take a long time if the government is asked to do it," he said in a discussion on the migrant worker policy here on Wednesday.

Jacob, also chairman of the All-Indonesia Workers Union Federation said that the increasing number of Indonesian workers overseas who encounter problems is related to the absence of a law to protect them.

"Our workers have been subject to extortion by labor exporters, government officers and their employers overseas because of the absence of standard regulations and legal sanctions," he said.

Soeramsihono, director general for labor deployment at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, said the government would take strict action against labor exporters and government officers who violated labor export procedures.

"Labor exporters should return their export license to the government and do business in another sector if they decline to treat workers humanely," he said.

He said the labor export program needed total reform to empower Indonesian migrant workers.

Husein Alaydrus, chairman of Apjati, conceded that numerous labor exporters had breached export procedures to reap higher profits but stressed that the government should be consistent in enforcing the export regulations.

"It should not be possible for unskilled workers to go overseas if their departure has not first been checked by the government, as workers need to be certified by the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry before they are allowed to go to work abroad," he said. (rms)