Latief denies impropriety charges

Latief denies impropriety charges

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief strongly
denied yesterday allegations of financial impropriety, saying
that he had earned enough on his own not to have to resort to
taking public money.

Latief also branded accusations that his ministry illegally
collected levies from Indonesian workers to be sent abroad as
cruel slander.

"I'll be damned. I'm a tycoon, why should I collect levies
from workers. It's not true. It's a slander. It's very cruel to
accuse me of taking poor people's money," Latief told journalists
after meeting with President Soeharto at his residence on Jl.
Cendana, Central Jakarta.

The chairman of the Association of Labor Export Companies
(Apjati), Abdullah Puteh, complained last week that the Ministry
of Manpower required all labor exporters to pay up to US$80 to
cover an insurance premium for each worker to be sent abroad.

The payment must be channeled to the Foundation for Indonesian
Human Resources Development (YPSDMI), run by the ministry's
retired officials.

Puteh claimed that the foundation, without a transparent
management structure, had collected $10 million in the last nine
months.

Latief maintained that accusations of such abuse were
unfounded, but did note that there was an official insurance
premium which had to be paid.

"It's baseless. We charge only $80 for each worker to be sent
to Saudi Arabia," he argued adding that those planning to work in
other Middle Eastern countries, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore
would be charged just $45.

"I'm like boxer Joe Frazier who has just been clobbered in the
ring," Latief said reflecting on the current scrutiny he has been
under.

"What's important is that I go ahead with my work until their
hands are too tired to beat me," he remarked.

The stylish minister, who founded retail company ALatieF Corp.
which owns Pasaraya department store, has been bombarded by
criticism for several weeks for alleged misuse of funds.

It was discovered that he had appropriated billions of rupiah
from the state-owned social security company PT Jamsostek to pay
for expenses incurred by legislators deliberating the
controversial manpower bill.

Latief maintained that the funds were used for the
administrative purposes of the deliberating session, such as
computer services, which was held in a posh hotel.

When the public outcry over the scandal emerged last month,
Latief claimed that President Soeharto himself told him to use
the funds from Jamsostek.

Insurance

When asked why workers going abroad were required to be
covered by an additional insurance premium while they are already
covered by Jamsostek, Latief said the new insurance scheme
provided better coverage and security for the worker's family.

"Jamsostek pays only Rp 2 million in the case of a worker's
death and a maximum 60-month salary if the worker is paralyzed in
a work-related accident," Latief explained.

He said that the new additional insurance scheme would provide
another $1,800 in the event of death and pay the full salary
remaining in the worker's contract.

Latief said President Soeharto summoned him to his residence
yesterday after reading a statement from the chairman of
Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Aburizal Bakrie that
one million people had lost their jobs this year as a consequence
of the economic crisis.

In his meeting Latief apparently gave a more sedate
interpretation.

"I told the President that the number is not that high," he
said, adding that official figures suggest only 16,961 workers in
the formal sector, not including construction, had been laid off.

But Latief's own assistant, Payaman J. Simajuntak, revealed
last month that the number of unemployed would reach eight
million by the end of the year. This includes an additional one
million newly laid-off workers.

"If the situation persists, the number of unemployed may reach
nine million in 1998," Simajuntak told reporters last month.

The President yesterday also reminded the country's 160,000
private companies to fulfill their obligations of paying Idul
Fitri bonuses.

"Companies are obliged to pay the bonus. If the financial
hardship becomes more severe the (high-ranking) executives should
be the ones making a sacrifice for their workers," Latief said.

The minister also acknowledged it would be difficult for the
government to raise the minimum wage next year.

"We must be realistic, because we cannot force ailing
companies to raise their worker's wages," said Latief. (prb)

Insurance -- Page 2