C. Java sent 1,500 workers abroad

SEMARANG: The Central Java office of the Ministry of Manpower announced here Wednesday that it sent a total of 1,556 workers to seven countries last January.

"The seven countries were Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi," the office chief, Andi Usman, said as quoted by Antara.

According to Usman, the workers were mainly domestic helpers and oil-palm plantation and plywood industry hands.

Usman disclosed that over the period of five years up to June 1998, Central Java sent 426,332 workers to Saudi Arabia and 704,261 to other countries.

"From the quality point of view, however, Indonesian workers are inferior, even compared to their peers from the Philippines," he said.