Jamsostek, NTB to protect workers

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.