KL to stop importing workers

KL to stop importing workers

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta fully respects Malaysia's decision to
stop importing workers, including from Indonesia, and hopes that
the ruling will only be temporary, Minister of Manpower Abdul
Latief said over the weekend.

"Surely Malaysia made the decision based on its domestic
conditions. We respect it," Latief said from Kuala Lumpur, where
he joined some 13,000 Indonesian workers at a concert featuring
Indonesian singers.

However, he said, "I believe the policy was not meant to be
long-term. Maybe until December.

"I believe the policy will not harm Indonesia. It applies to
all workers from exporting countries such as Thailand, Sri Lanka,
and the Philippines. Besides, the ruling applies to new imports.
The placement of workers who were recruited before July can
proceed," he said.

The Malaysian government announced in July that it would stop
importing workers long enough to give it time to deal with the
problem of illegal workers, including those from Indonesia.

Latief called on Indonesia's illegal workers in Malaysia to
abide by the rules and arrange the necessary documents. "The
Indonesian embassy will help you," he said.

He also called on workers who are illiterate, ill or otherwise
less than capable to go home. "Illiterate people find it
difficult to work at home, much more so in Malaysia," he said.

Indonesia and Malaysia recently agreed to deport illegal
workers from Indonesia to their hometowns, rather than to nearby
Pekanbaru in the province of Riau. Most of the workers are from
East Java and East Nusa Tenggara.

The Antara news agency reported that some 11,000 illegal
Indonesian workers are currently sheltered at Malaysian
immigration camps awaiting deportation.

Between January and April this year, Malaysia deported nearly
10,000 Indonesians to Dumai port in Riau. More than 300,000
Indonesians work, either legally or otherwise, in Malaysia's
plantation and construction sectors.

The government expects at least 2.5 million Indonesians to be
employed overseas by year 2000 in the hopes of generating US$12.5
billion in foreign exchange a year and reducing unemployment at
home.

Currently, nearly 800,000 Indonesians, mostly unskilled, work
legally overseas, mostly in Malaysia and Australia.

However, along with the increase in foreign investment here,
the number of foreign workers employed in Indonesia has also been
rising. More than 57,000 foreigners are currently working here,
receiving a combined income total of US$24 billion a year.

The government will soon audit foreign professionals working
here to establish the abilities and qualities that Indonesian
workers need to compete with foreign workers, Latief recently
said.

Following harsh criticism of the poor protection and abuse of
Indonesian workers abroad, the government recently decided to
phase out the sending of menial workers into informal sectors and
increase the number of skilled people able to find work in
better-paid, better-protected formal sectors. (swe)