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