Govt suspends sending of TKIs overseas
Berni K. Moestafa The Jakarta Post Jakarta
The government said on Wednesday it had suspended the dispatch of Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) overseas amid the worldwide threat of a respiratory virus, holding back some 8,000 workers just as they were about to leave the country.
"This suspension is temporary as we wait for a way to overcome the SARS problem," said Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nua Wea referring to the new disease known Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome which has killed some 100 people worldwide.
Health officials from around the world continue to detect SARS cases, some leading to death. The disease is suspected to have originated from southern China which has reported the highest case of SARS.
Hong Kong and neighboring Singapore have also been hit hard by SARS, and both are prime destinations of Indonesian workers.
Last week, the government declared SARS a national threat. The number of suspected SARS cases was 33, but not a single patient has been positively diagnosed with that disease.
Jacob would not estimate for how long the government would suspend Indonesian workers from going abroad.
According to him, other worker exporting countries like the Philippines have imposed a similar ban.
Indonesian workers contributed some US$1 billion to state revenues last year.
"(I know) they'd be real happy to go abroad, but they may get the disease," Jacob said, saying that each worker earned an average of around Rp 2 million (about US$224) every month.
He asked the workers to return home rather than waiting out the suspension at the temporary dormitories belonging to labor exporting companies.
"Otherwise, I advise the companies to take this time to provide the workers with more training so that when the time comes for them to go, they will be fully prepared," he added.
Aside from Southeast Asian markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, the Middle East is another destination for Indonesian workers but the government had previously suspended the supplying of new workers to the region because of the war in Iraq.
The region currently employs some 68,000 Indonesian workers, almost all of whom have stayed.
Last year, Malaysia stopped accepting Indonesian workers in an effort to drive out illegal ones following a series of clashes between them and the police and immigration personnel in that country.
The suspension was lifted earlier this year amid a surge of demand in the construction and agriculture sector.
Taiwan, meanwhile, has maintained its suspension of all Indonesian workers since last August due to complaints that many had broken their contracts.