Govt promises to improve workers' image overseas

JAKARTA (JP): Newly appointed Director General for Labor Placement Sirajudin Syamsuddin pledged yesterday to improve the image of Indonesians working overseas, saying there would be a more selective process for sending them abroad.

"We will no longer send unskilled workers. We will improve legal protection for troubled workers and help improve their social welfare," Syamsuddin said after his inauguration ceremony here.

Minister of Manpower Theo L. Sambuaga swore in Syamsuddin to replace Jack Iskandarsyah, and Brig. Gen. (Army) Martono as inspector general to replace Commodore (ret.) Amin Soemarsono.

Syamsuddin, better known as Din Syamsuddin, was born in Sumbawa Besar, East Nusa Tenggara, in 1958.

He said his ministry would also simplify the currently complicated procedures by introducing a single-location service for those interested in overseas work.

Syamsuddin, who now heads the Center for Research and Development at the ruling Golkar headquarters, made newspapers' headlines in 1995 when he accused soothsayer Permadi Satrio Wiwoho of blasphemy in connection with the mass production and sale of the latter's controversial audio tapes of his speech in Central Java.

The chairman of the Indonesian Association of Labor Exporting Companies (Apjati), Abdullah Puteh, said his organization would be stricter in controlling labor exports to avoid the sending of unskilled and untrained workers.

"We fully support the government's endeavor to improve the image of Indonesian workers working overseas," he said.

Thousands of illegal Indonesian migrant workers have been deported from Saudi Arabia and Malaysia in the last seven months.

Puteh warned the association would also take stiffer actions against companies proven guilty of treating workers inhumanely and of violating rulings on labor exports.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Military Chief Maj. Gen. Safrie Sjamsudin said yesterday the Armed Forces would step up its efforts to prevent the sending of illegal workers overseas.

"We will work harder to chase unauthorized companies which are believed to be behind the sending of illegal workers," he said.

The unauthorized companies recruited the workers from Java and East Nusa Tenggara and then smuggled them into Malaysia without required documents, such as working visas and passports.

More than 1,000 illegal workers deported by the Malaysian government arrived in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday. They are part of more than 13,000 illegal workers deported by Malaysia. (rms)