Government to open more jobs for expats

Government to open more jobs for expats

JAKARTA (JP): The government will soon allow expatriates to
work in positions which are currently closed to them, according
to a senior government official.

Yudo Swasono, the director of the Center for Labor Planning
and Development at the Ministry of Manpower, told The Jakarta
Post yesterday the government is preparing a new "negative list"
-- list of jobs which are closed to foreign workers, usually
those at the high- and middle-level management.

"The new list, to be issued later this year, will open many
jobs and positions which are currently closed to expatriates."

"The old list is no longer suitable for our goal to compete in
the trade liberalization era. We cannot afford to keep on using
it," he said. "We expect that the new list will help attract more
foreign investors here."

When the new list becomes effective, foreigners, for example,
will be able to practice law here or work as accountants.

The existing negative list, issued by the Ministry of Manpower
in 1981 as an implementation of the Presidential Decree No.
23/1974, bars foreigners from middle- and high-level management
positions.

It opens jobs such as supervisors, and bookkeepers at a
temporary basis.

The new negative list is a follow up of the Presidential
Decree No. 75/1995. It will open up all positions on boards of
directors and the boards of commissioners of companies partly or
wholly owned by foreign investors.

Only the position of personnel directors at wholly foreign-
owned, joint ventures and national companies will remain closed
to foreigners.

Yudo said that the ministry is currently conducting a labor
market study to determine the ratio of labor and demands in
various sectors.

The results of the study will become the basis for ministry
officials setting up the new list, Yudo said. He did not specify
any timetable for the study and the issuance date for the list.

"We will learn what positions and sectors should be opened to
foreigners," he said. "We'll also establish a set of professional
requirements that foreigners should meet if they wish to work
here."

The start of trade liberalization in the next few years will
see workers move freely from one country to another, provided
they met professional qualifications set by their destination
countries.

"Japanese workers will be free to work here by 2000, provided
they met requirements ... such as speaking Indonesian and
understanding Indonesian culture," Yudo said.

The number of expatriates currently working in Indonesia is
approximately 60,000. Most of them are given positions which
cannot be filled by local people, employed in the following
sectors: agriculture, mining, manufacturing, hotels, power
plants, construction, trade, transportation, and insurance. (rms)