Indonesia suspends labor exports to SARS-infected countries

Indonesia suspends labor exports to SARS-infected countries

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Batam

The government has temporarily suspended the supply of Indonesian
workers to the Asia Pacific in response to the Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis in the region.

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea told
The Jakarta Post on Friday that the action was part of a series
of steps being taken by the government in response to the crisis
in China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The legal basis of the decision is Law No. 4/1984 on
communicable diseases.

"We have temporarily banned all labor exporters from supplying
workers to the Asia-Pacific region. A consequence of this
unwanted policy is that we will suffer material losses," he said,
adding that the ban applied to all associations that supply
workers to the region, particularly Singapore, Hong Kong and
Taiwan.

This new policy will add to the economic losses suffered by
Indonesia since the government suspended labor exports to the
Middle East because of the U.S.-led war on Iraq. Indonesia
supplies an average of 500,000 workers every month to countries
in the Middle East.

Jacob, who has canceled a visit to Hong Kong and China, said
he did not have any data on the number of workers who would be
affected by the new policy. But he did say that Indonesia
supplied about 4,000 workers to Hong Kong every month and between
2,500 workers and 3,000 workers to Singapore every month.

The minister also said the government had ordered its
diplomatic missions in the Asia Pacific to intensify their
monitoring of Indonesians working in the region

"Indonesian workers employed in Hong Kong and Singapore have
been asked to use masks both inside and outside of their places
of work," Jacob said.

The minister also said he had asked the heads of all manpower
and transmigration offices in the regions to monitor any workers
who had recently returned home from overseas.

"We especially delivered a letter about the temporary ban to
Djaelani, the chief of the manpower and transmigration office in
East Java, because of the government's recent green light to all
labor exporters in the province to supply semiskilled workers to
Hong Kong and Singapore," he said.

Meanwhile, authorities in Batam are scheduled to screen about
62,000 workers employed in industrial zones on the island, which
is near to Singapore.

Jhon Sulistiawan, the general manager of Batamindo, which
supplies workers to some 70 foreign companies on the island, told
the Post on Friday that preventive measures against SARS were
being taken with an eye toward the 1,500 expatriates who travel
to and from Singapore weekly.

Singapore, as a regional hub, is thought to be key in the
spread of SARS through the Asia Pacific and beyond. The World
Health Organization recently announced that travel to Singapore
should be avoided.

Jhon said companies on Batam should check workers as they
arrive at and leave factories, and isolate anyone suspected of
being infected with the disease.

Puardi Djarius, head of the Batam health office, said so far
there had been no indications that SARS had spread to the island.

He said his office had intensified its supervision at the Hang
Nadim airport and several seaports through which many Singapore
arrive on the island.

Meanwhile, the director general for labor placement at the
Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, I Gusti Made Arke,
confirmed that Suprihatin, a 22-year-old worker who was being
employed in Hong Kong, has been positively infected by the
potentially fatal flu-like virus.

"Suprihatin, a resident of Sumber Sewu village, Ponorogo
regency, East Java, is gradually recovering after undergoing
intensive care at the Queen Elisabeth Hospital in Hong Kong since
March 15," he said.

Arka added that Suprihatin was employed as a domestic helper
for a Hong Kong family in Mong Kok, Kowloon.