Institute aims to teach skills to migrant workers

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam

"LPPTKI" (the Indonesian Migrant Workers Empowerment and Training Institute) is inscribed on the nameplate of a three-story building located in a corner of Puri Industrial Park, Batam. The institute, which was opened recently, is managed by the Batam International Training Center (BITC), a government-sponsored training center for migrant workers.

The institute is built to train Indonesian migrant workers wishing to work as maids in Singapore. It provides workers with the opportunity to improve their skill in using a variety of equipment, including washing machines, electric irons, rice cookers and clothes lines.

Roger Tan, a consultant at BITC, said that the training center was opened following evaluation of the performance of Indonesian migrant workers in Singapore. According to the evaluation, the workers performed poorly in the tiny neighboring country compared with workers from other countries. He said that Indonesian migrant workers had difficulty in speaking English. Their ability to use household equipment was rated below that of their counterparts from other countries. They also had a lack of self- confidence, especially when meeting new people.

As a result, Indonesian migrant workers were paid less than their foreign colleagues, including those from the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Thailand, said Tan.

New migrant workers from Indonesia are paid S$230 per month, while the salary for those who have extended their contracts is $300 to $350 per month.

Newcomers from other countries are paid more than $300 per month, while those who have extended their contracts are paid even more.

"Through this institute, we shall train Indonesians who wish to work in Singapore as housemaids, so that they are capable of doing household jobs in Singapore. We shall set quality standards for migrant workers and give them a certificate so that prospective employers in Singapore will have no worries about employing them.

With this system in place we hope that their salaries will be on a par with those of housemaids from other countries," he said.

Tan said the institute would carry out particular tests of competence, which would enable a housemaid to earn a certificate. These would include tests of English language ability, cooking, housekeeping, doing laundry and baby-sitting.

The tests would be organized by the institute, while the certificates would be issued by the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, he said.

"We shall not pay attention to their educational background: Whether they are elementary, junior high or senior high school graduates, we shall treat them equally," he said. The training will take one to two months.

The institute has still to determine who will pay for the training, whether the migrant worker themselves, their prospective employers or both on a shared basis.

Director General of Migrant Worker Placement Abroad at the ministry I Gusti Made Arke said that the training would increase the market value of workers, which would affect their salaries. He said that Singapore had good potential as a market for Indonesian migrant workers, because the tiny, but prosperous country had a demand for some 17,000 migrant workers, including housemaids, every year.