Indonesian workers will continue to work overseas illegally

Indonesian workers will continue to work overseas illegally

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian workers still prefer to work abroad illegally due to
complex procedures, both in Indonesia and receiving countries, an
analyst has said.

Migrant worker analyst Sri Palupi said on Tuesday Indonesian
workers wishing to work overseas legally were burdened with a
variety of dubious fees, even though they received hardly any
legal protection from the government while working overseas.

Receiving countries also imposed a variety of fees and
complicated procedures on firms to recruit migrant workers
legally, she said.

"So, problems at home and rising demands for illegal workers
overseas coincide and drive Indonesian workers to work overseas
illegally," Sri said at a seminar here on Tuesday.

At present, many Indonesians still work overseas illegally in
various countries, including Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Last year, some 480,000 illegal Indonesian workers were driven
out of Malaysia after that country implemented tough immigration
legislation endorsing corporal punishment and jail terms for
illegal workers. Many believed that most of the workers had
sneaked into Malaysia illegally.

Under manpower minister's Decree No. 204/1999, legal migrant
worker applicants have to pay, among other things, recruitment,
placement and supervision fees, all of which are extremely
expensive.

Workers wishing to work in Taiwan, for example, have to pay Rp
20 million to Rp 30 million to a labor recruitment agency.

On top of that, their monthly salary is reduced by up to
NT$10,000 (US$303) per month by labor agencies there. Indonesian
workers earn an average of NT$15,000 per month.

Before leaving for Taiwan, each worker is also charged
NT$1,800 in Taiwan labor agents' fees and NT$1,500 for local
agents.

The ruling only benefited worker agencies and employers, who
were supposed to shoulder some of the fees, she said.

"This is an indication that the government simply wants to
maintain the image that our migrant workers are cheaper than
those from other countries," she said.

Legal protection for migrant workers is also still very weak.

The responsibility for legal protection of migrant workers was
also taken on by worker agencies, which was wrong, as the main
objective of worker agencies was to reap profit, not protect
labor, she said.

Sri also alleged that a number of destination countries, such
as Malaysia and Singapore, had created anti-migrant worker
policies, including the imposition of income tax on foreign
workers, high fees for working visa applications and difficult
procedures for firms recruiting foreign workers.

She urged the government to speed up the creation of migrant
worker protection law to at least protect Indonesian migrant
workers when they were still at home.

Sri also said that the government had to ratify international
conventions that protected the rights of migrant workers as they
were one of the instruments to protect Indonesian workers
overseas.

Director General of Overseas Worker Placement at the Ministry
of Manpower and Transmigration I Gede Made Arka acknowledged that
there were a lot of problems related to migrant workers at home
and overseas that should be tackled by the government.

"We definitely want to improve the system, ranging from
reducing red tape, improving training centers for migrant workers
and punishing worker agencies that violate regulations to giving
more protection to workers," he said.