Another 34 labor exporters licensed

Another 34 labor exporters licensed

JAKARTA (JP): The government will not limit the number of
labor export companies in the country as long as they comply with
regulations, Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said yesterday.

"Any company which has completed the administrative
requirements will get a license in no time," Latief said after
presenting licenses to 34 manpower supplier companies, which had
been scrutinized by the ministry's evaluation team.

With the issuance of new licenses yesterday, the number of
employment companies is now 86.

Some of those companies that have secured their license had
urged the government to stop issuing new licenses, saying that
the market is already saturated.

Latief urged labor companies to properly manage the way they
dispatch Indonesian workers abroad. He pointed out that some of
these workers have to struggle hard to survive in foreign
countries.

"The government doesn't want to hear anymore reports of
Indonesian workers being abused by their foreign employers," he
said, citing an example of a recent report suggesting that an
Indonesian maid servant was tortured with an iron by her
employer.

To avoid a repetition, the Ministry of Manpower has set up a
team to select companies applying for a license by studying their
backgrounds, including their management records, Latief said.

"Any complaint on the violation of workers abroad will be the
responsibility of not only the labor exporting company but also
the government, in this case the evaluation team," he stated.

The number of complaints about Indonesian workers being abused
abroad has decreased, thanks to the ministry's tight selection in
granting licenses to applicants, he said.

Latief said the government will not hesitate to revoke the
licenses of manpower exporting companies if they're found to have
violated the regulations or have neglected their obligations.

"Workers are not business commodities," he said, adding that
labor exporting companies should send more skilled workers
overseas, not just manual laborers.

To compete with India, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, and the Philippines, labor companies in Indonesia
should always upgrade their managements as well as their
marketing and financial skills, he said. (03)