Indonesia needs strong industrial workforce, Soeharto says
Indonesia needs strong industrial workforce, Soeharto says
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia needs a strong and skilled workforce
to ensure success in its current industrialization drive,
President Soeharto says.
Launching a series of seminars designed to strengthen
Indonesia's manpower base, Soeharto said yesterday that both
workers and management should strive to build a strong industrial
workforce.
"In an industrial society, production requires a highly
disciplined workforce that is time efficient, meticulous,
diligent, skilled and responsible," he said at the State Palace.
"Many of our workers do not yet fulfill these conditions."
"On the other hand, many entrepreneurs and industrialists
still view their workers as simply one of the factors of
production.
"Such a perception has caused entrepreneurs and industrialists
to ignore the inherent characters of workers, such as customs and
tradition, religion, feelings and interests," he said.
The Ministry of Manpower yesterday kicked off the first of
seven seminars it is planning to hold in the next few weeks for
an overview of the problems facing the nation.
The first seminar is about unemployment, a pressing problem
for the government with about 29 million people, nearly 30
percent of the total workforce in Indonesia, currently either
unemployed or underemployed. On top of this, official statistics
suggest that Indonesia needs to create jobs for 12 million new
workers in the next five years.
The other seminars will be on industrial relations (May 9-11),
wages (May 19-20), labor legislation (May 26-27), industrial
training (July 1-2), productivity (July 13-14) and industrial
society (July 21-22).
Soeharto urged management and workers to work towards
harmonious relations because they need one another.
Acknowledging the need for companies to remain competitive,
Soeharto said they should strive to improve remuneration for
their workers.
He proposed a wage system that meets people's basic needs and
allows them and their families to grow and prosper.
He warned that a wage system must not further expand the
social disparity but should be attractive to the business
community.
Unemployment
Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief hammered home the
unemployment problem facing Indonesia. "The high unemployment
level is a major challenge for us. If we fail to handle this
problem, it will cause political, economic and social problems,"
he said.
Minister of National Development Planning Ginandjar
Kartasasmita, who spoke at the first session of the three-day
seminar on unemployment, said one way of controlling the size of
the workforce is through curtailing population growth.
In the next 25 years, Indonesia should cut its annual
population growth from 1.7 percent to 0.9 percent, he said.
The population distribution should be controlled properly, he
said, noting that at present 60 percent of Indonesia's 184
million live on Java.
He said development activities outside Java should be
stimulated to redress this population imbalance. "Most of the
population is on Java because the development is centered here."
Ginandjar said that the education and training system should
be improved to train the young entrepreneurs who are expected to
create more job opportunities. (rms)