Labor supply firms get 6-month reprieve

JAKARTA (JP): The government has postponed the enforcement of stricter rules regulating the lucrative but highly disorderly business of sending Indonesian workers overseas.

The decision was announced during a meeting between Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief and around 100 executives of manpower supplier companies.

The new set of regulations which came into effect on Aug.1 has been a source of complaint for the companies, and some are even threatened with bankruptcy.

Latief in a series of decrees in February ruled that a manpower supplier company must have a minimum paid up capital of Rp 450 million and establish training facilities for any workers it sends abroad. The companies must also apply for new operational permits.

One month since these decrees came into force, not a single manpower supplier company has complied with the regulations, prompting Latief to summon the executives to his office yesterday.

"This decision is made taking into consideration that not a single permit has been issued and that the companies are not well-prepared to work in accordance with the tighter requirements," he said.

The decrees were introduced to instill order in the industry which has been highly criticized for leaving Indonesian workers stranded overseas, or subject to various forms of abuse without legal protection.

Latief acknowledged that the government has an interest in ensuring that the manpower supplier companies continue with their business because the industry is recognized as a potential source of foreign exchange earnings for the country.

Indonesia hopes to earn some three billion dollars in remittances from workers overseas in the next five years.

Latief said at least 250 manpower supplier companies are needed if Indonesia is to meet the target of sending around 1.25 million workers overseas in the next five years.

With the tighter regulations, he expected that up to 120 companies will be issued with permits by the end of the year and the number will continue to increase.

The minister also warned that these companies should be prepared to phase out the sending of unskilled workers, who still provide the bulk of those sent overseas, and replaced them with skilled ones.

Quotas

To ensure compliance, the government is setting quotas on the number of unskilled workers a company may send abroad beginning in 1995.

Next year, at least 20 percent of workers expatriated must be skilled, and their portion rises to 40 percent in 1996, 60 percent in 1997, 80 percent in 1998 and 100 percent in 1999.

The policy of not sending unskilled workers was needed to ensure the welfare and image of Indonesian workers abroad, he said.

Latief suggested that instead of competing with one another, manpower supplier companies cooperate and improve communication between themselves. "This is a national endeavor."

He also warned that manpower supplier companies will now be held liable for any bad treatment received by workers they send overseas and the government will not hesitate to punish them severely. "All companies have an absolute duty to protect Indonesian workers overseas."

For this purpose, he said the companies must be more selective in choosing employers or even appoint lawyers overseas to handle any problems that workers might encounter.

"Many workers, mostly women, have complained to the government over the irresponsible attitude of manpower supplier companies," he said. (rms)