'Govt does nothing to tackle unemployment'

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Labor activists, analysts and businesspeople lashed out at the government on Thursday for its inaction and lack of seriousness in solving the country's unemployment problems that have adversely affected more than 38 million people of working age.

Speaking at a panel discussion on unemployment, they said the number of unemployed people was continuing to rise as thousands of workers were rendered jobless after having been laid off at home or deported from Malaysia.

The speakers urged President Megawati Soekarnoputri's government to make the issue a top priority and address it accordingly.

They agreed that not only was the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration responsible for the unemployment problem, but all Cabinet members.

"It's the obligation of the state to provide jobs for its people or at least to seek to prevent workers from losing employment," said Arief Soedjito, chairman of the Confederation of the All Indonesian Trade Union (KSPSI).

"This idea is not an exaggeration because it is already mandated by Article 27 of the 1945 Constitution," he told the discussion entitled Unemployment: Is There Any Solution?.

Pitoyo, executive director of the Indonesian Employees' Association, also blasted the poor coordination among government and private agencies in handling the jobless issue.

"The national coordination to overcome unemployment is not visible, either with government officials or between them and the private sector," he said.

Activist with the Association of Indonesian Workers (Aspek) Timbul Siregar and senior journalist Rosihan Anwar, who is also a labor analyst, said the government had not yet offered any initiatives or vision to reduce the jobless numbers.

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea admitted that Megawati's Cabinet lacked coordination in efforts to cope with the unemployment.

"It should have been the focus of all ministries. To reduce the number of jobless and create job opportunities is an obligation for all of us. The problem is national in nature," he told the same forum.

Jacob said the number of the jobless had dropped to 38.3 million people from around 40 million before Megawati took power last year, but added that the reduction was not significant.

Analysts have chided the government for a lack of seriousness in dealing with crucial labor issues. Every ministry appeared to have worked on its own agenda without showing concerns about how to resolve the growing unemployment.

The recent deportation of hundreds of thousands of undocumented Indonesian workers from Malaysia was the latest case, in which the government came under fire at home for failing to prevent the "inhuman" expulsion.

Many of the ill-fated workers are still waiting at holding camps in Nunukan which lies on border between East Kalimantan and Malaysia.

Jacob has repeatedly criticized the Malaysian government for refusing to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jakarta to guarantee protection of Indonesians working there.

"Malaysia treated Indonesian workers well when the country needed them, but when it did not, it abandoned them," he said.

The minister, a member of Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), however acknowledged that sending more workers, including skilled ones, overseas was an important move to help reduce unemployment in Indonesia.

He proposed the establishment of a national body to promote, empower and protect Indonesian workers overseas, saying the move is expected to prevent the Malaysia deportation case from recurring.

Pitoyo voiced support for such a body, saying it should be led by the president and involve government and private agencies, universities and non-governmental organizations.

Another speaker and prominent businessman Sofyan Wanandi suggested that the government invest in large-scale infrastructure projects across the country as part of efforts to create new jobs and improve roads, bridges and harbors.

"We cannot rely on businesspeople right now because they will not expand businesses amid the current security and law enforcement uncertainty. Their stance is just to survive," he said.