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.