Govt to be firm on labor export permits

Govt to be firm on labor export permits

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Manpower, facing a number of
lawsuits, has vowed to maintain strict rules for issuing permits
to labor export companies.

Spokesman Soetanto said yesterday that although a number of
companies, whose applications for permits were rejected, have
filed lawsuits against it, the ministry will stand by its
decisions.

He denied the labor export companies' allegation that the
office makes its decision according whether it likes the
businessmen or the companies.

"There is no such thing as like or dislike when we decide
whether to issue or withhold permits," Soetanto told reporters.
"Any applications which do not meet all requirements will be
rejected," he said.

The companies filed the lawsuits with the Jakarta
Administrative Court between March and September. Several of the
lawsuits had been turned down because they failed to meet the
court's administrative procedures.

An unspecified number of companies have withdrawn their
lawsuits after learning they lacked legal grounds for their
action. Among the companies were PT Farhana Amin Setia, PT Bina
Setia Corporation, PT Ainul Asep Abadi and PT Boner Indonesia.

Soetanto also dismissed the suggestion that his office had
tried to influence the court regarding the lawsuits.

"The minister of manpower will not do such a thing. Far from
it. The ministry will comply with any decisions the court takes,"
he said.

Soetanto said the ministry would be consistent with existing
legislation in handling applications from companies who wish to
export Indonesian workers. The office also used the services of
public accountants and management experts in processing the
applications, he said.

"Please remember, the tightening of labor export procedure is
a way to protect our workers abroad, and to improve the labor
export companies' professionalism as well," he said. "We are
talking about exporting not goods but human beings."

Out of the existing 300 labor export companies, only 72 have
secured new licenses recently. The remaining are no longer
allowed to send workers abroad.

Soetanto told the companies which have failed to secure new
permits to comply with the various requirements stipulated in two
ministerial decrees issued last year.

"In addition to some administrative requirements, the decrees
stipulate that all labor export companies have a total asset of
at least Rp 450 million in cash and a training center," he said.

Soetanto pointed out that the ministry, when processing
applications, also take into consideration a host of other
factors.

"No permit will be issued for companies with a poor record,
such as those which have been found to have supplied workers for
prostitution abroad," he said.

The government is intensifying the labor export program to
help ease unemployment here.

It plans to export around 250,000 workers annually during the
current sixth Five-year Development Plan, which started last
year, with a total of US$60 billion in remittances. (rms)