Govt shows no interest in migrant workers

Govt shows no interest in migrant workers

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legislators bemoan the government's lack of interest in solving
various problems relating to migrant workers, as indicated by the
failure of seven Cabinet ministers to attend a consultation
meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR) on Wednesday.

The ministers, instead, sent their director generals or lower-
ranked officials to the consultative meeting headed by deputy
House speakers Tosari Widjaja and Muhaimin Iskandar.

"This clearly shows the government's lack of seriousness in
dealing with manpower problems," Muhaimin said.

The ministers in question were Coordinating Minister for the
Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, Minister of Manpower and
Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan
Wirayuda, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno, Minister of
Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Minister of Social
Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah, and Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi.

National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar also failed to attend
the meeting.

Separately, the House's deputy secretary-general, Faisal
Djamal, said the ministers and police chief had been invited to
attend the meeting three days ago.

Legislators proceeded with the meeting despite the ministers'
absence.

The meeting was attended by leaders of House Commission I for
defense and security affairs, leaders of Commission II for home
and legal affairs, leaders of Commission VI for education and
religious affairs, and leaders of Commission VII for manpower,
health and social affairs.

Muhaimin of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said the
consultative meeting was aimed at boosting coordination among
related officials to settle manpower problems.

The meeting also raised questions about President Megawati
Soekarnoputri's slow response to the bill on the protection of
migrant workers, drafted by the legislators last year.

Nearly 22,000 Indonesian workers fled Malaysia on August last
year after Kuala Lumpur cracked down on an estimated 600,000
undocumented workers. They were stranded in the East Kalimantan
town of Nunukan, near the border of Sabah, Malaysia.

Meanwhile, executive secretary of the Consortium to Defend
Indonesian Migrant Workers (KOPBUMI) Wahyu Susilo also expressed
his disappointment over the government's poor attention to issues
relating to migrant workers.

According to Wahyu, the government had failed to address the
number of deaths among Indonesian migrant workers. KOPBUMI's data
shows that 90 migrant workers died in Singapore in the period of
January to July 2003.

Wahyu added that his colleagues had filed a civil lawsuit
against nine government officials for failing to settle the
Nunukan incident. The trial of the case opened on Wednesday at
the Central Jakarta District Court.