Bakorstanasda urged to stop worker kidnappings

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta chapter of the Agency for Coordination of Support for National Stability (Bakorstanasda Jaya) is being urged to crack down on worker "kidnapping" at the Soekarno-Hatta airport in Cengkareng.

"The practice has been going on for several years but seems difficult to stop since it involves officials of the airport, security officers, officials of the Ministry of Manpower and the IMSA (Indonesian Association of Manpower Supplier Companies)," Idrus Syech Abubakar, chief of IMSA's arrival unit, was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday.

Idrus's statement followed recent reports that many workers arriving at the Soekarno-Hatta airport from working overseas were forced by labor officials to pay unreasonably exorbitant transportation expenses to their home villages.

They were charged between Rp 200,000 and Rp 300,000 (US$92 to $138) each.

Idrus said the extortion involved some kind of "kidnapping" .

According to regulations, all workers arriving at the airport should disembark through a special exit door. They will then be escorted to a boarding house owned by the ministry in Ciracas district, East Jakarta.

Missing

The officials at the boarding house will check their documents before sending them to their respective manpower supplier companies which originally sent them abroad. The companies will send them back home after the workers and the firms make a final settlement on their contracts.

However, Idrus said, many workers "disappear" soon after arrival.

According to Idrus, the investigation into the case early in July, held on order from Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief, revealed that the "missing" workers had been "kidnapped" by a syndicate involving the security officers, the airport, the ministry of manpower, and IMSA's officials.

The syndicate took the workers to travel agencies in Cengkareng district, forced them to spend the night there before transporting them to their home villages.

"They demand unreasonably high transportation fees of Rp 300,000 to Bandung, and Rp 500,000 to East Java and Central Java," Idrus said.

"This has caused great losses to the firms which send the workers," he said.

Minister Latief had demoted some of the ministerial officials at the airport and the Ciracas internment, but Idrus said the workers have continued to "disappear" from the airport. (jsk)