Labor training funds llikely abused, observers say

Labor training funds llikely abused, observers say

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Calls for the government to begin training programs for millions
of unskilled workers using billions of dollars in dedicated funds
may be impossible to answer due to irregularities in the use of
the funds over the years.

Labor exporters have been calling for training programs,
saying that the government, through the Ministry of Manpower and
Transmigration, has collected billions of dollars in non-income
taxes from Indonesian workers overseas and expatriates here in a
bid to raise funds to finance training programs for unskilled
workers.

Labor exporters are concerned over reports that Indonesian
workers might not be able compete with foreign workers when the
regional liberalization drive in the labor sector begins next
year, due to a lack of skills and poor preparation by the
government.

When asked why the government was not using these funds to set
up training programs, a senior official at the Ministry of
Manpower and Transmigration said the ministry could not provide
an accountability report for the use of the funds for many years.

"The ministry, which has been in charge of collecting the
training funds, has no accurate data on the precise amount of
funds, the utilization of the funds and the number of workers
trained with the funds. There are irregularities and this must be
fixed immediately," the secretary-general of the Manpower and
Transmigration Ministry, Tjeppy Al'oewi, told The Jakarta Post at
his office on Friday.

The ministry collected US$20 from each Indonesian worker sent
to Saudi Arabia from the 1980s to 2000, and $15 from all
Indonesian workers sent overseas for the last five years.
Expatriates working in Indonesia have been required to pay $100 a
month to help finance labor training programs.

Indonesia sent about 15,000 workers to Saudi Arabia from the
1980s to 2000, and about 40,000 workers monthly to foreign
countries over the last five years. The number of expatriates
working in Indonesia has varied between 13,000 and 35,000 over
the last 35 years. There are more than 28,000 foreign workers
registered with the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry,
industrial zones and the Investment Coordinating Board.

An official at the same ministry said not all of the funds
were channeled to the labor training division at the ministry as
originally planned, with a huge part of the money going to other
divisions in the ministry and to other ministries to finance
development projects.

The director general for labor placement and training affairs
at the ministry, Kirnadi, explained that while the ministry
collected the funds, the money had to be transferred to the
Ministry of Finance before being redistributed.

"Some 38 percent of the collected funds are kept by the
Ministry of Finance," he said.

Kirnadi said some of the money had also been distributed to
labor unions in the hope that they would set up training program
for workers.

However, labor unions and labor exporters denied receiving
money.

The Confederation of Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union and the
Confederation of All-Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI) said
separately they had never received any of the funds.

"The BPK should audit the use of the funds," KSPSI chairman
Jacob Now Weal said, referring to the Supreme Audit Agency.

The chairman of the Association of Indonesian Labor Supplying
Companies, Hasein Alaydrus, also said his group had not received
training funds from the government.

Training and retraining programs are seen as urgent because it
is feared that Indonesian workers, many uneducated and lacking
skills, will be unable to compete with foreign workers
when the ASEAN Free Trade Area is fully implemented beginning
next year.