Indonesia to post more labor attaches overseas

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will soon appoint labor attaches in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and several European countries due to the rising demand for Indonesian workers, says Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief.

Speaking to the press here yesterday, Latief said President Soeharto has approved his office's proposal for more labor attaches. He also said that a labor attache will also be appointed to represent Indonesia in the International Labor Organization in Geneva.

Latief said his office will soon consult with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on possible candidates.

Latief said the demand for Indonesian workers in the informal sectors of the importing countries has increased in recent years. The appointment of labor attaches, he said, is necessary to improve legal protection for the workers.

Hong Kong, where some 13,000 Indonesian workers are already employed, has requested an additional 50,000 workers for its massive airport construction project, Latief said.

The minister, who visited South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong last week, said that the countries -- already employing a total of 20,000 Indonesian workers -- have requested more workers for other construction projects and employment in their electronic industries.

He also said that Indonesia would promote its labor export program in the coming years to help ease unemployment at home.

"We are planning to increase the number of Indonesians working abroad from the current 1.2 million to two million by year 2000 with a minimum wage of US$500 monthly to reach the annual target of US$12 billion in labor export revenues," he said.

He expressed optimism that the minimum wage would be raised from the current US$300 to US$500 for the more highly-skilled workers.

He said the government has improved several vocational training centers and their programs to meet the international standard for foreign workers. "Hopefully, the workers' incomes can be heightened by improving their skills, even if they still work in the informal sector," he said.

He added that the manpower and public works ministries have jointly designed a training program for workers on construction projects overseas.

Insurance

Latief also said that the government has issued a decree changing the name of the state-owned workers insurance company from PT Astek to PT Jamsostek. The company runs the Jamsostek social security insurance program for workers.

The name change was regulated in Government Regulation No. 36, which was signed by President Soeharto late last month, he said.

He said that the government was also making efforts to enforce the Law on Jamsostek, issued in 1993, in order to cover as many workers as possible in the insurance program.

The company records say that so far only 52,000 companies, employing about 7.7 million workers, have joined the Jamsostek program. The firm says that in 1994 there were over 144,000 companies in Indonesia with 30 million fixed-income employees. (rms)