Govt does not help migrant workers to compete abroad

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The low quality of human resources, the constant changes in the official procedures and mostly, the absence of a strong political commitment from the government have greatly contributed to the country's failure to compete with other countries in the export of laborers.

Since the labor export program was launched by former labor minister Sudomo in 1982, dozens of ministerial decrees have been issued in attempts to alter the procedures for sending workers overseas.

Since 1982, the country has had five labor ministers and each had his own policy, apparently without any intention to maintain a permanent system, raising confusion both among the workers and labor exporters on the changing insurance schemes, training programs, document services, recruitment procedures and labor contracts.

"So far, the labor export system, starting from workers' recruitment to their employment overseas and their return is still very complicated. The complications cause rights abuses, deception and extortion of the workers," Yunus Yamani, a migrant worker activist told The Jakarta Post here on Wednesday.

He said it had been quite unfortunate that workers had to deal with numerous problems once their recruitment began up through their departure and still when they finally came home.

"So far, there is no permanent procedure of recruitment with banking support, insurance, certified training standards, integrated services for documentation, ILO-standardized labor contracts, a permanent remuneration system in countries and permanent procedures for handling troubled workers," he said.

According to the existing procedure, a job seeker who wants to work overseas, has to spend around Rp 20 million, ostensibly to pay for the recruitment fees and training fees to a labor broker and a manpower supplying company (PJTKI), administrative fees for a labor passport, an insurance scheme and a plane ticket to the country where he/she will be employed.

The changing procedures have also indicated an absence of commitment by the government to accelerate the development of the labor export sector.

"So far, the government has shown no intention of establishing a law on labor employment overseas, to take serious measures against labor brokers, labor exporters and government officers found guilty of extorting workers, abusing them and deceiving them," he said.

Of the 467 manpower supply companies, less than 10 percent have their own training centers and dormitories while the remaining 450-plus companies have their workers trained in other training centers or send them without any training.

In addition, the government has paid inadequate attention to the protection of workers employed overseas. So far, Indonesia has yet to endorse bilateral agreements with host countries employing Indonesian workers, in accordance with the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on the protection of migrant workers. Besides being less than active, Indonesia has only appointed labor attaches in Malaysia and the Saudi Arabian cities of Riyadh and Jeddah.

So far the government, the relevant ministries, the police and the Attorney General's office, have shown no willingness to do anything about the illegal trade of workers and many end up developing troubles caused by their illegal status.

Both President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Manpower Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea failed to show up in Malaysia last year when Malaysian authorities were expelling hundreds of thousands of illegal workers.

Abdullah Umar, another labor activist, shared Yunus's opinion, saying all sides including the government, PJTKIs and overseas employers, should share the some of the blame for all the problems that workers have been facing overseas, but the main cause was the low quality of the workers.

"Of around 4 million Indonesian workers employed in 13 countries, 80 percent graduated from either elementary or high school and only 40 percent have any skills," he said.

Unlike workers from the Philippines, Bangladesh and India, most Indonesian workers are employed as domestic helpers as they cannot speak English or Arabic.

"Many workers have been abused or dismissed in the past because they do not know about their rights or because they were not skilled. For example, a domestic helper did not even know how to iron the family's clothes because she was never trained," he said.

Former manpower minister Bomer Pasaribu concurred and said the government was doing little about improving the labor export situation which could help cope with the unemployment problems.

"Look at our leaders. They haven't voiced a single protest about the expulsion of Indonesian workers from that country (Malaysia)," said Bomer Pasaribu, a labor expert and a former manpower minister. "I just don't think they are interested."

I Gde Arke, director general for labor placement at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, said the government would continue to review the ministerial decree on labor exportation.

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea said recently the government was preparing a draft law to provide legal protection for workers employed overseas and to regulate the whole business.

Suryo Sumpeno, a labor activist from the Consortium for the Advocacy of Indonesian Migrant Workers (Kopbumi), said workers needed a law to protect them from abuse and impose harsher sanctions against violators.

Suryo said that fraud cases or extortion perpetrated by PJTKIs to TKIs should be taken to court. "So far, cases have been settled in the ministry's office. Sometimes PJTKIs extorting TKIs give their money back. But I don't think that's enough for them to learn their lessons."

Uday Djalaluddin, who has been in the migrant worker business since the 1990s, said he did not turn a deaf ear to the hardships and injustice endured by Indonesian migrant workers (TKI).

"I think, TKIs deserve better protection," said Uday, a director and owner of a migrant worker supplier (PJTKI).

He added that TKIs brought a lot of foreign exchange earnings, but instead of receiving adequate protection and recognition, they drew much attention from vultures who wanted to cash in from their hard labor.