Govt to issue decree to protect TKIs

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While preparing a labor protection law, the government will immediately issue a decree to provide legal protection for two million Indonesian workers overseas (TKIs).

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said here on Friday the decree, which will be jointly signed by four ministers and a director general, would lay the groundwork for the formation of an advocacy group and the issuance of "special passports" for overseas workers.

The new decree, which will replace one issued in 1995, will be jointly signed by Nuwa Wea, foreign minister Hassan Wirayudha, religious affairs minister Said Aqil Al Munawar, State Minister for Women's Empowerment Sri Redjeki Sumarwoto and Director General for Immigration Muhammad Indra.

"For the time being, the five senior government officials will set up five advocacy teams consisting of government officials and lawyers. They will focus their work in Saudi Arabia where many Indonesians have had troubles and been abused. Also, the immigration directorate general has agreed to issue special passports (for overseas workers) that will be valid for three years," Nuwa Wea said following a coordination meeting on labor export presided over by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla.

The government is taking these measures in response to public criticism and outrage over the abuse of Indonesian migrant workers, particularly those employed in the Middle East.

However, these new measures do not address the abuse the workers face at home, from the moment they leave their home villages to the time they step off the plane on their return to Indonesia.

Many migrant workers have been physically abused, dismissed without severance pay and extorted, both while overseas and here at home. The workers often make easy prey because they lack the education and experience to protect themselves from abuse.

Ministerial Decree No. 104A on labor exports requires labor exporters to provide just a month of training in practical skills and foreign languages before placing workers overseas.

Nuwa Wea said the new labor protection bill would outline standard labor recruitment procedures and harsher punishments for labor exporters that fail to protect workers they send overseas. The bill is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.

Meanwhile, several activists urged the government to sign bilateral agreements with foreign countries to provide legal protection for Indonesian workers.

Agus Pambagio of the Visi Anak Bangsa Foundation said the government should issue a government regulation in lieu of law to revamp labor export procedures. He said the regulation should cover labor contracts and industrial rules, particularly on remuneration, overtime pay, annual vacation, insurance and workers' access to relatives.

In a dialog with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction at the House of Representatives, Agus, who was accompanied by University of Indonesia lecturer Imam Prasodjo and Wahyu Susilo of the Consortium for Legal Aid for Migrant Workers, said the House should press the government to issue a regulation in lieu of law to help provide protection for migrant workers until a law was passed.

Wahyu said the government's new measures would be ineffective to curb the violence against migrant workers since it has issued many others in the past.

"Like the terrorism issue, the labor export is an emergency situation for which the government should immediately make a perpu," he said.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung also supported the idea to insert migrant workers' rights in the bill to prevent them from being abused during the employment overseas.