Govt reopens RI workers placement

Govt reopens RI workers placement

JAKARTA: The government said on Monday that it had lifted the
ban on the placement of Indonesian workers in the Middle East as
of April 1.

Director for the Protection and Empowerment of Indonesian
Migrant Workers Mardjono said Minister of Manpower and
Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea had issued an instruction allowing
labor recruitment agencies (PJTKIs) to send workers to Middle
Eastern countries.

"As long as PJTKIs meet our requirements, for example proper
accommodation for the workers, they can resume sending workers
overseas," he said.

Workers should also be able to communicate in the language of
the country where they are willing to go, he said.

But the placement of workers to Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS) affected countries such as Singapore and Hong
Kong is still on hold, said Mardjono.

An association of labor recruitment agencies said earlier it
had received a copy of an official letter issued by Minister
Jacob to the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Jakarta that the placement
of Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia would resume in May.--JP