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