Indonesia turns eyes on labor opportunities in postwar Iraq

Indonesia turns eyes on labor opportunities in postwar Iraq

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Mataram, East Nusa Tenggara

While resuming its labor export to the Middle East, Indonesia
continues in its efforts to persuade the United States and
Britain to employ as many Indonesian workers as possible in the
mining and construction sectors in post-war Iraq, say government
officials.

Director General for Labor Training and Productivity Mudjiman
at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration said that the
government has submitted official requests to the U.S. and
British heads of state and has held informal talks with the two
countries' ambassadors to Indonesia in regards the role of
Indonesian workers in rebuilding Iraq.

"We are awaiting the two countries' official response to our
request, so that we can assess the kinds of skills needed in that
country," he said at the sidelines of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting of senior manpower
officials here on Monday.

He said that the two coalition countries would need tens of
thousands of workers in the mining and construction sectors to
rebuild the country, and that they had informally agreed to
cooperate with Indonesia in the reconstruction project, despite
Indonesia's official political stance on the war.

The government strongly deplored the coalition forces'
incursion of Iraq, while antiwar groups in Indonesia condemned
the war.

Director General for Domestic Labor Placement Kirnadi at the
manpower ministry said the government had also allowed 28
manpower placement agencies (PJTKI) to resume labor exports to
the Middle East following the end of the Iraq war.

"We are still conducting a (tight) selection process of the
hundreds of workers who have already undergone the three-month
training program at state-owned training centers and at PJTKI
centers," he said, adding that no workers had been recalled
during the Iraq war.

Around 500,000 Indonesian nationals are working in the Middle
East, with an average 3,000 workers sent to the region per month.
The government suspended labor exports to the Middle East during
the Iraq war, while it began conducting a more intensive training
program for migrant workers at home.

Kirnadi further said that the government would continue with
its much-criticized apprenticeship program in Japan and South
Korea to help mitigate the unemployment rate at home and improve
the workers' skills.

He said the Indonesian government had agreed to supply 3,100
workers this year as apprentices in small-scale companies in
Japan, while South Korea had agreed to employ around 10,000
apprentices at small firms.

"Besides the labor export, this apprenticeship program is
actually part of Indonesia's overseas employment scheme to help
cope with the unemployment problem that has reached alarming
levels," he said.

Apprentices are recruited from provinces and are employed by
small-scale companies in the manufacturing and public work
sectors in Japan with a gross monthly salary of 80,000 yen. Since
the program was launched in 1992, the government has sent 15,000
workers to Japan and 70,000 to South Korea.

Many small-scale companies in the two countries that have
banned foreign workers have employed Indonesian workers at
salaries lower than the minimum wages for local employees. The
minimum wage in Japan is 125,000 yen per month.

As a result, the apprenticeship program has sparked harsh
criticism from many groups in Japan and South Korea, because it
has reduced the number of job opportunities for the workers of
those two nations.