Expats to be forced to join Jamsostek
Expats to be forced to join Jamsostek
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
All expatriates in the country not covered by social security
schemes will soon be required to join programs provided by state
insurance company PT Jamsostek, the labor minister says.
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris said on
Thursday it would soon become compulsory for all expatriates
working in the country who were not covered to apply.
"The program for expatriates is based on an International
Labor Organization (ILO) Convention stating that social security
schemes are part of workers' basic rights and must be upheld
regardless of status, ethnicity or nationality," Fahmi was quoted
by Antara as saying after a meeting with Jamsostek's executives
here.
He said Jamsostek and individual companies who had foreigners
on their payrolls would have to make amicable financial
arrangements so participation in the social security schemes
would not unduly burden the companies.
Fahmi said he had written to local branches of manpower
agencies, Jamsostek, the Indonesian Employers Association
(Apindo) and the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(KADIN), notifying them about the program.
The minister said the scheme would first target expatriates
who had just arrived in the country and started working here.
"For those who have been working here for sometime and joined
social security schemes other than Jamsostek, they are free to
stay with these programs until they expire. Afterwards, if they
still remain in the country and continue working here, they must
join a Jamsostek scheme," Fahmi said.
Jamsostek has three schemes available for expatriates on
offer: work injury insurance, life insurance, and a pension fund.
Expatriates' premiums could be paid out at any time before
they left the country, he said.
In April, then-minister of manpower and transmigration Jacob
Nuwa Wea issued a Ministerial Decree No. 67/2004 to revive the
1995 decree requiring all expatriates in Indonesia to enroll in a
social security program.
The original decree was lifted in 1999, as the government
found most of expatriates had already been registered with
similar -- and often more comprehensive -- social security
programs in their workplaces, often from their home countries.
Earlier, Jamsostek president Achmad Djunaidi said the company
was targeting more than 1.5 million Indonesians employed overseas
to join its social security programs.
Jamsostek current assets reach Rp 33 trillion (US$3.6 billion)
collected from 23 million workers. It reported a net profit of Rp
2.55 trillion from its investments in the first nine months of
this year.