Court urged to review migrant workers bill

Court urged to review migrant workers bill

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

All 429 registered labor recruitment companies have unanimously
opposed the newly endorsed bill on placement and protection of
migrant workers and will immediately file a request with the
Constitutional Court to review the bill.

Saleh Alwaini, spokesman for the alliance of four associations
representing labor recruitment and export companies, told a press
conference here over the weekend the government of Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono would encounter serious problems if it enforced the law
because it was against the amended 1945 Constitution.

Labor exporters oppose the bill because it requires migrant
workers to have completed junior high school before their
placement abroad while the Constitution says all Indonesian
citizens have equal access to jobs regardless of their education.

"The legislation which only allows the sending of workers to
countries that have signed a memorandum of understanding with
Indonesia and the ones with laws on protection of migrant workers
will suspend the labor export because so far, Indonesia only has
memorandums of understanding with Malaysia, Kuwait and South
Korea," said Saleh.

Indonesian Employment Agency Association (IDEA) chairman Adrie
Nelwan said that besides imposing tight requirements to obtain
labor export licenses, the new legislation was "very repressive,
harsh and reactive as if labor exporters were the main cause of
the rampant violence against migrant workers overseas".

The bill will automatically take effect on Oct. 29, 2004
regardless of the president's approval. It carries a minimum two-
year prison term and 10-year prison term and/or a maximum fine of
Rp 15 billion against companies supplying workers overseas
without a license and against labor exporters that are found to
have violated the law.

The legislation has also sparked strong opposition from non-
governmental organizations because it is considered to have taken
labor exporters' side.

According to the protesters, the legislation is more
exploitative than protective because it regulates how workers
should be recruited, trained and employed overseas and not how
the workers have to be protected by export agencies, the
government and foreign employers.

Manpower and transmigration minister Jacob Nuwa Wea said that
it was their right to have the Constitutional Court review the
law.

"But they (all sides opposing the law) should bear in mind
that it is better for the country to have the new legislation
than to have Ministerial Decree No. 104A/2004 on labor export. If
they are not satisfied with the law's substance, they can ask the
new House of Representatives and the next government to review
it," he said.

The exporters have also called on the next government to make
labor export a top priority to help cope with the unemployment
problem as well as to gain a remittance to help spur the
development program at home.

"The sending of workers abroad is quite a strategic move in
helping reduce the number of those unemployed. If labor export is
accelerated, it will not be difficult for the government to place
up to eight million semi-skilled workers overseas annually. If
they are assumed to send home an average of US$160 monthly, the
government will gain around $100 billion annually in foreign
exchange," said Saleh.

The next new government will be facing a serious unemployment
problem with almost 10 million unemployed and 35 million
underemployed.

"We are concerned over the poor protection of migrant workers,
but it is better to send as many workers as possible to work
overseas than hold them all at home without any jobs," said
Saleh.