Govt mulls inter-departmental body for workers

Govt mulls inter-departmental body for workers

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is planning to set up an inter-departmental body
to handle the settlement and protection of migrant workers and to
overcome problems faced by the country's migrant workers.

The national body, whose members consist of officials from
several departments, will take over the duties of a similar body
currently under the manpower and transmigration ministry.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab said on
Wednesday here that the national body would be established soon
after a Cabinet meeting.

"It is necessary to reorganize the settlement and protection
of Indonesian migrant workers by establishing a national
coordinating body for their settlement and protection," he told a
press conference after a ministerial meeting.

The establishment of the national body was part of the
manpower and transmigration ministry's target for the first 100
days of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration.

It is expected that the national body would provide a one-roof
service for migrant workers.

"It will cover all aspects, from ID cards, passports, job
orders, contracts, training and so forth," Alwi said.

The meeting has assigned the manpower ministry to make a study
for the preparations needed to establish the new body.

"The body will involve other departments, labor recruiting
companies and non-governmental organizations," Alwi said.

The government was also considering issuing special passports
for migrant workers, Alwi said.

Currently, hundreds of thousands of illegal Indonesian migrant
workers are leaving neighboring Malaysia following an amnesty
granted by Malaysia for them to return to Indonesia before Idul
Fitri.

Alwi said the government was currently preparing a
resettlement program for illegal migrant workers not eligible for
employment in Malaysia.

"Malaysia requires migrant workers to have certificates of
eligibility, to attend a 60-hour training program on Malay
culture, lessons in Malay and English as well as some knowledge
about the laws there," he said.

Some 300,000 of the 800,000 illegal workers are expected to
accept the amnesty Malaysian authorities have offered.

Over 70 percent of them planned to go back to the neighboring
country, Alwi said. Open unemployment in Indonesia is currently
at 10 million.

The government also offered migrant workers the opportunity to
work at nine palm oil plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan,
which could absorb around 22,500 families.

The resettlement program would cost a total of Rp 1.6 trillion
to construct housing and prepare arable land for palm oil estates
for the families. The Ministry of Finance has approved the
scheme, Alwi said.

Thousands of migrant workers deported from Malaysia over the
last two years have been resettled in the small-holder palm oil
plantations in Natuna, Riau; Sanggau, West Kalimantan, and
Nunukan, East Kalimantan.