Government urged to better vocational training

JAKARTA (JP): Labor exporters are calling on the government to maximize the country's 153 training centers to train adequately those people seeking work overseas.

The president of labor supply company PT Binawan Duta Pratama, Saleh Alwaini, criticized the government for doing little to improve the quality of workers, especially those supplied overseas.

"Labor exporters have decided not to train workers before sending them abroad due to financial and political problems. Training programs need a huge investment and the present political situation is not conducive for such an investment," he said here.

He said Indonesia would likely loose out in the fierce competition with other labor-exporting countries to grab a share of the international labor market unless the quality of its workers was improved.

"So far, labor exporters have exported only maids, mostly female, because our workers are not competitive. Many foreign countries prefer to recruit maids from the Philippines because they are skilled in housekeeping and can work more independently," he said.

He said the demand for semiskilled workers remained high in Europe, the Middle East, Taiwan, Japan, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia, but Indonesia could not meet this demand because of the low quality of its human resources.

Saleh, the owner of the Binawan Group, said Indonesia, with its 100-million-strong workforce of mostly elementary school graduates, would have difficulty competing in the era of free trade unless training centers and institutions were empowered to produce skilled workers and professionals.

"The unemployment rate (in the country) has reached around 40 million and this will have a negative impact in terms of social problems and crime at home," he said.

The chairman of the Association of Indonesian Labor Exporters, Abdulla Umar, criticized Minister of Manpower Bomer Pasaribu and other officials at the ministry for not focusing adequate attention on the country's deplorable labor situation.

"Bomer has done nothing other than secure his current position over the last nine months. He has made numerous foreign trips but has yet to make any policy to boost the export of labor," he said.

The director general for labor training and productivity, Yudo Swasono, conceded the Ministry of Manpower had yet to establish a national policy to make use of the training centers to improve the skills of the country's workers.

This in part, he said, was due to financial constraints and a past lack of cooperation among the directorates at the ministry.

"So far, we have formulated no plan to make use of the training centers for labor exports, and the numerous training centers cannot function properly because of the small amount of money allocated in the state budget for training programs and the absence of modern equipment to train ready-for-use workers," he said.

He noted the government allocated only Rp 33 billion for worker training programs in the 2000-20001 state budget, adding that a lack of cooperation among the ministry's directorates in the past hindered efforts to enhance the quality of workers sent overseas.

"The labor placement directorate has never consulted with the labor training and productivity directorate to design a plan to make use of the training centers to train workers who want to work overseas," he said.

A legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Marle Aberson Sihaloho, attacked the government for failing to exploit the training centers to produce skilled workers, saying vocational training programs were needed to boost the export of labor and produce greater numbers of entrepreneurs.

"In facing the prolonged crisis, private and state-run training centers should be encouraged to provide vocational training to the unemployed, including dismissed workers, to boost the export of labor and strengthen the private sector at home," he said.

He said that according to the Constitution, the government had an obligation to provide job opportunities, education and vocational training for the people. (rms)