Korean executive denies manipulation charges
Korean executive denies manipulation charges
By Harry Bhaskara
SEOUL (JP): A Korean executive has denied charges made by an
Indonesian labor supply company, which he represents, that he
siphoned off US$30 million from the wages of Indonesian trainees
in Korea.
"On the contrary, the manipulation has been committed by the
company headquarters' in Jakarta," Han sun-dong, the
representative of the Jakarta-based Binawan Group, was quoted as
saying by the Korean-language Chosun Ilbo newspaper Tuesday.
Binawan president Saleh Alwaini told Media Indonesia last week
that the money was the wages of workers for the last two years.
The group sent some 5,000 trainees to Korea during the period
with monthly wages of $360 to $900.
Han told Chosun that he had transferred a total of $6.6
million to Jakarta from June 1994 to August 1996 for the trainees
and added that he had kept all the transfer receipts with him.
Another $2.2 million, he said, had been withdrawn from the
bank by the trainees themselves.
Han also said that some 2,500 trainees working in Korea banked
their wages at the Hanil Bank in Yoido-dong totaling about $3.1.
million.
"The charges that I had privately kept the money in a bank
were groundless," he said.
Han said he had in fact asked the Indonesian manpower ministry
to investigate the alleged manipulation at Binawan Jakarta office
under the instruction of the Korea Federation of Small Business.
An Indonesian Embassy staff member here who met with Han
Wednesday, confirmed that the Korean director had the bank
transfer documents in his possession.
"I have seen the documents, a whole stack of them, sent during
the two-year period. It is difficult to say who is on the wrong
side," Danto Ntoma, head of the Consular Department, told The
Jakarta Post Thursday.
Han, in return, charged that Binawan Jakarta manipulated the
passports of 36 Indonesians. He said some of the workers had been
detained by the Korean immigration office awaiting repatriation.
The mud-slinging came amid allegations of the extortion of
Indonesian workers.
"The problem is a blister. I have tried to address the issue
in the past but the problem seems to persist," Indonesian
Ambassador to Korea Mohammad Singgih Hadipranowo told the Post.
"Some worker supply companies have violated the government
regulation. I am really concerned about the fate of Indonesian
workers here," he said.
Sources have said Indonesian workers are asked to pay US$600
per person for a work extension permit.
"It is stated nowhere in the regulation," the honorary consul
of Indonesia, Kim Soo-il, told the Post. He pointed out
extortion, if the allegation is true, increases the hardships of
the workers as the amount is equal to six weeks of their wages.
"Most of the workers come from poor families. They work here
because they need the money for the medical treatment of a sick
relative or to finance the education of a family member," he
said.
Kim, who is also a professor of Southeast Asian politics at
Pusan University, described how workers usually had to wait for
months before they were able to leave Indonesia for Korea, and
how they often had to pay a great amount of money to the company
that sent them.
"If the extortion charge is true, I'm afraid the workers will
grow to hate their own government. I have a stack of letters
written by workers with tears in their eyes," Kim said.
He said the alleged extortion has forced many Indonesian
workers to work illegally, something which is not tolerated by
the Korean government.
"Now there are six Indonesian workers staying with me, waiting
to be repatriated," he said.
Djuhari Wirakartakusumah, an advisor to the Ministry of
Manpower who was on a visit here, said he would report the matter
to Jakarta.
More than 9,000 Indonesian workers work in South Korea,
including 3,000 seamen. The number, however, pales in comparison
to the 400,000 Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia and one million
in Malaysia. Unemployment is a big headache for the government
with two million people entering the labor market every year.