Govt promises to improve workers' image overseas
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)