Labor market
Labor market
As one of the leading providers of training for professional certification (project management) in Southeast Asia, I feel compelled to respond to your article in the Jan. 15, 2003 issue of The Jakarta Post, entitled RI asked to open its labor market by Rendi A. Witular.
Unless Indonesia wishes to remain forever an underdeveloped nation, wracked by corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), it is imperative that the door be opened for competition as soon as possible. Indonesians are neither stupid nor lazy. They are being held back by a paternalistic policy whereby the government, in "protecting" them from the outside world, has retarded their chances to compete and prosper in the global economy. The false logic of this argument can be illustrated by looking at the many Indonesian professionals who do live and work successfully outside Indonesia. Evidence of the impact of the short-sighted policies advocated by Arsa Suthisna can best be illustrated by the following true story.
One of our clients earned her professional certification as a project manager while working at a multinational company. After earning her certification, she was offered a position with the same company, working in a nearby country, doing the same work, at a salary that was seven times the salary she was making in Indonesia. When asked recently whether she planned to return to Indonesia, she stated: "Until the salaries in Indonesia match comparable professional salaries in other countries, I am not interested in returning."
Speaking from our own 10 years of local and regional experiences as a training provider for several globally recognized certifications, Indonesia is lagging far behind what Malaysia, Singapore, China and even Vietnam are doing in the area of professional credentialing and competency development. So the answer lies not in postponing the opening of the labor market, but in ending paternalistic and regressive practices that are keeping Indonesian professionals from achieving their full potential.
Indonesians have the brains, they have the commitment, and they have the opportunity. The challenge to the government is to remove the restrictions that make it difficult for them to obtain internationally recognized certifications. How? By releasing the funding provided by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and others to enable as many as possible to obtain appropriate training and to actively support and reward those companies who can prove by demonstrable and verifiable results that they truly provide "technology transfer".
To do anything less is to invite an inevitable "brain drain" as the best and brightest seek appropriate compensation, recognition and opportunity outside.
PAUL D. GIAMMALVO, Jakarta