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.