Labor extortion remains unresolved soon

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has decided to take charge of transporting of overseas workers home upon their arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and will no longer use the special lounge at the terminal as a transit point.

According to one minister, the move was necessary to take the power out of the hands of airport, immigration and customs officials who are well-known for rampant labor extortion.

However, the policy is somewhat questionable because it will only transfer the problem from the terminal to the new venue where the workers will be taken and debriefed before being transported home.

The new policy was said to be part of the ongoing attempts to transfer more control of labor exports as stipulated in a ministerial decree issued by Manpower and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea on Tuesday.

"The Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration will use its building in Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta, as the new transit point where the workers will be taken before being transported to their home villages in Java, Bali and East Nusa Tenggara," he said after swearing in 37 new officials at his office.

He said government officers from his office would accompany workers to undergo immigration and excise checks to prevent them from being exploited by the officials.

The extortion has also frequently happened when the workers were forced by bus drivers transporting them, to convert their foreign money into Indonesian rupiah with lower rates on their way home.

Ideally, the workers should be able to go out freely through the existing terminals instead of being placed at a special terminal or building, where they can easily be intimidated and forced to pay all manner of illegal fees. Most of workers already know how to get from Jakarta to their respective homes, so the practice is unnecessary, but apparently useful for certain officials who may have a personal interest in the status quo.

Nuwa Wea said further that his office would also impose stricter requirements for labor exporting agencies in running their operations.

"Labor exporters must be available at a main office to enable government officers to coordinate with them in handling the workers. They are also required to have training centers with an adequate number of trainers and training facilities in accordance with the guidance set by the government. And all workers undergoing the training program must be accommodated in a dormitory," he said.

He warned that companies failing to meet the requirements would get their licenses revoked. He said so far, his office revoked the licenses of around 12 agencies for violating the export rulings and gave final warnings to a number of others for minor violations.

Besides, the minister said, all labor exporters would be obliged, as of next year, to limit the export of unskilled workers to 60 percent to help reduce to a minimum any trouble- makers overseas.

"Each time a labor agent exports six unskilled workers, he or she must also supply four skilled ones," he said, adding that many of the unskilled people have developed trouble with their employers because they were found to be deficient in doing their job and in their communication skills.

He said in 2004, the government would impose a stricter quota system by requiring agents to export more skilled workers to increase the amounts of bank remittances sent back to home banks.

The majority of some three million overseas workers are employed as housemaids with low pay because they had no skills, and thus the amount they were taxed was also quite low.