BP3MI Riau Islands Refines Special Scheme for Border Workers

Tanjungpinang (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection Agency (BP3MI) of the Riau Islands (Kepri) is continuing to refine a special scheme for border workers, known as Special Border Treatment (SBT), to provide legal certainty and protection for residents of border areas working in Malaysia.

The Head of BP3MI Kepri, Kombes Pol Imam Riyadi, stated in Tanjungpinang that the scheme is designed as an effort to provide a legal pathway for the mobility of workers from border regions who have traditionally engaged in economic activities in the Johor and Melaka areas.

“This proposal specifically covers communities from Karimun Regency, Riau Islands Province, and Meranti Regency, Riau Province,” Imam said in Tanjungpinang on Saturday.

The employment sectors under this scheme will be limited to seven fields based on existing needs, namely construction, agriculture, plantations, livestock, restaurant services or shopkeepers, and cleaning services.

To ensure security and proper documentation, workers and employers within the SBT scheme will be required to be registered in the official SBT database system.

Imam noted that the SBT scheme could serve as a solution to manage labour requirements in Malaysia, which have long been met by residents from border regions.

“Malaysia’s needs in certain sectors can essentially be fulfilled by residents of Kepri and Riau from Karimun and Meranti. Discussions regarding this have also taken place within the Sosek Malindo forum (the bilateral socio-economic cooperation forum between Indonesia and Malaysia), supported by visits from the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Malaysia to the region,” said Imam.

He added that the implementation of the SBT scheme must go hand-in-hand with increasing the capacity of local human resources. Competency enhancement programmes, such as ‘SMK Go Global’, can be utilised to prepare prospective workers with qualifications that meet job requirements.

“Indonesia can also adopt a similar scheme to that implemented by Thailand. Most importantly, in accordance with the President’s directives, we must ensure there is no more exploitation of Indonesian migrant workers,” he said.

The Head of BP3MI Kepri added that relevant ministries, agencies, and local governments will undertake regulatory harmonisation to support the implementation of the SBT scheme.

This harmonisation includes aligning the technical regulations of the KP2MI, drafting bilateral agreements, and preparing local regulations to serve as the operational legal umbrella in border areas.

“Through cross-sectoral discussions, the government continues to mature the concept of cross-border labour mobility governance to provide legal certainty, improve worker documentation, and strengthen protection for border community members working abroad,” said Imam.