Jamsostek, NTB to protect workers
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara
Increasing cases of violence against Indonesian workers abroad has prompted the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) provincial administration to establish a cooperation with state-owned social security company PT Jamsostek to provide an insurance scheme to protect migrant workers.
The provincial administration is to work on a labor protection bylaw, while Jamsostek is to provide facilities to check the health of workers prior to their departure and provide insurance under a social security program during their employment overseas.
Deputy governor A.B. Thamrin Rayes said the provincial administration would consult the central government to avoid any conflicts between the bylaw and the bill on labor placement and protection currently being drafted by the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration.
"It will be too late if we wait for the enforcement of the legislation. We'd better take concrete measures to revamp the labor export procedures to stop the violence," Thamrin said during Wednesday's opening of a Jamsostek office here.
He said the labor protection bylaw was needed to allow relevant authorities to cope with problems found in the labor export procedure, from the recruitment of workers to their placement overseas and their repatriation.
The bylaw, he said, would enable the provincial government to supervise workers' recruitment and training and to conduct medical check-ups prior to their departure.
"This means the workers must be trained here, instead of in other places like Jakarta, and user countries can no longer directly recruit workers from here. Jamsostek will provide health and legal protection for the workers, from their recruitment to the end of their contract," he said.
Data from a local non-governmental organization (NGO), the Pancakarsa Foundation, showed that 430 migrant workers from the province had been killed, abused or raped this year, up from 187 cases in 2002. There have been 1,900 cases of violence against Indonesian migrant workers between 1996 and 2001.
The most recent violence involved a domestic helper from Taliwang district, who was sent home by her Saudi Arabian employer after she was abducted, beaten and raped on her way to Jeddah International Airport.
West Nusa Tenggara exports between 500 and 900 workers per month. The workers receive a monthly salary of between Rp 500,000 (US$59.5) and Rp 1.5 million, depending on their skills and health.
More than 300,000 people from remote areas in the province are now working as domestic helpers and low-ranking employees in the electronic, plantation and construction sectors in the Middle East, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Jamsostek president Ahmad Junaidi said he welcomed the province's proposal.
"We will discuss it further in the spirit of regional autonomy in order to try and revive the ministerial decree on labor protection, which was lifted in 1999," Junaidi said.
Junaidi said Jamsostek and the West Nusa Tenggara provincial administration would refer migrant workers to a satellite hospital located on the outskirts of Mataram.
"We will also offer a special insurance scheme with a premium rate higher than that collected from workers employed at home," he said.
Pancakarsa Foundation chairwoman Endang Sulistyaningsih responded cautiously to the agreement, saying it would not guarantee that migrant workers would be safe from abuse and extortion.
She urged the provincial administration to involve all sides, including key players in the labor export industry, NGOs and relevant authorities, in drawing up the labor protection bylaw.