Govt upset over illegally RI workers overseas

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A senior government official expressed his deep concern over hundreds of thousands of Indonesians working illegally in foreign countries, thus exposing themselves to trouble.

Director general for labor placement overseas at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, I Gusti Made Arka, said here on Tuesday that despite the previous amnesty program launched by the Malaysian government and the ensuing raids, hundreds of thousands of Indonesian workers have continued to work there without proper documents.

"Of around 700,000 illegal immigrants employed in (Malaysia), only 386,000 returned home under the amnesty program launched in March. Some of them have returned (to Malaysia) by using tourist visas to work in that country.

"In the meantime, those who did not receive the amnesty and who escaped the raids remain illegal. They have been underpaid and made to work more than eight hours a day and without any healthcare or pension benefit scheme," he said.

He said that Indonesian illegal immigrants employed as housemaids and in plantations were paid between 5 Malaysian ringgit (Rp 20,000) and 7 ringgit a day, which they could actually earn in their home villages.

Arka acknowledged that the government had a constitutional obligation to provide protection for all citizens, including those working overseas, but it could not be held responsible for the "rampant abuse" of Indonesian workers.

"The government has long campaigned for (workers) to use formal procedures and warned all citizens against working overseas without necessary documents, but many have intentionally taken the illegal way to avoid levies, labor training and long procedures," he said.

He said the abuse of Indonesian workers overseas had a lot to do with their illegal status and their poor skills.

"Employers will exploit illegal workers and underpay low- skilled ones," he said.

Many workers have illegally entered Malaysia with the help of tekong (local brokers), he said, because they have no skills, no cash and no necessary documents to meet all formal requirements to work in that country.

Arka added that the government was also perplexed by the presence of more than 400,000 illegal immigrants in Saudi Arabia, 13,000 in the U.S., 20,000 in South Korea and 8,000 in Japan and thousands of others in other countries such as Syria, Palestine, Kuwait and Jordan.

He said the government had difficulty in preventing the workers from working illegally because they have used tourist, pilgrimage, or student visas in order to enter these countries.

"Almost 80 percent of the 400,000 illegal immigrants in Saudi Arabia entered the country using pilgrimage visas that expire after three months," Arka said.

He also said that many people have used religious visas to seek work in South Korea and many others have used study visas to work in the U.S.

He said that the government had revoked the licenses of 27 manpower supply companies for violating the law in supplying workers overseas.

"At present, four owners of unauthorized labor export companies are undergoing police interrogation in relation to their involvement in sending undocumented and unskilled workers overseas," he said.