'Export' of female workers to continue

'Export' of female workers to continue

JAKARTA (JP): Newly-appointed manpower and transmigration
minister Al-Hilal Hamdi dismissed protests over the sending of
female workers overseas, saying that labor exports were essential
in helping to reduce the alarming level of unemployment here.

"There will be no temporary halt to labor exports because,
besides providing economic benefits, the labor sector service
industry has actually helped ease unemployment," he told
journalists after an official handover ceremony from previous
manpower minister Bomer Pasaribu here on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Manpower has now been merged with the Ministry
of Transmigration which Al-Hilal previously headed.

The sending of female workers overseas has sparked protests
from labor unions and women's organizations because of the
increasing number of sexual harassment cases befalling them
abroad over the last two years.

Critics have also won the support of State Minister for the
Empowerment of Women Khofifah Indah Parawansa who has called for
a stop to labor exports for the time being.

Al-Hilal maintained that suspending labor exports would only
create new problems as job seekers would simply attempt to leave
and seek work overseas illegally.

"What's more important is that we make the necessary
corrections to the existing legal procedures, including those
preventing people from entering foreign countries illegally," he
said, referring an incident last week involving Indonesian job-
seekers in the Straits of Malacca.

A boat carrying dozens of illegal immigrants trying to enter
Malaysia sank leaving at least 25 dead and dozens of others still
unaccounted for.

The minister said that both he and Foreign Minister Alwi
Shihab would lobby Middle Eastern countries to help provide
better protection for Indonesian workers employed there.

"A lobby effort is necessary because many women workers from
Indonesia are facing problems in the Middle East," he said.

He added that he would set up a joint team comprising labor
unions, labor exporters and the manpower and transmigration
ministry for the purpose of rectifying existing export procedures
and improving protection for Indonesians working abroad.

He also said the government was considering accelerating labor
exports so as to double the government's receipts from the
sector.

"We will try to accelerate labor exports by supplying around
1.5 million skilled workers overseas annually with the hope that
government receipts will double to US$4.2 million," he said.

The number of Indonesian workers employed overseas has reached
around three million and they contribute around $2 million
annually to the government's foreign exchange earnings.

Saleh Alwaini, deputy chairman of the Labor Exporters
Association (Apjati), hailed the minister's policy on labor
exports but said that the government should take strict measures
against labor exporters who fail to provide adequate protection
for the workers they send abroad.

"Almost all of the troubles encountered by workers overseas
can be partly blamed on the exporters because the workers were
sent overseas without adequate training".

"Frankly speaking, many women workers employed as domestic
helpers in the Middle East cannot speak Arabic and lack adequate
domestic skills," he said.

Saleh, who is also the president of PT Binawan, a company
which supplies semi-skilled workers to the Middle East, Europe,
Taiwan and Canada, said the government should also act against
illegal exporters of labor. (rms/01)