Law to require foreigners to speak 'Bahasa'

Law to require foreigners to speak 'Bahasa'

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The requirement for foreigners to take a Bahasa Indonesia
proficiency test, a move aimed at improving communications with
locals, will be stipulated in the investment law, says a
minister.

"I want foreigners who are going to work in Indonesia to be
able to speak Bahasa Indonesia, so they will be able to
communicate with the other employees," Minister of Manpower and
Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said before a hearing with House of
Representatives's Commission VII on labor and social affairs here
on Tuesday.

He added said he had proposed that a clause be inserted in the
investment bill that would immediately be submitted to the House
for further deliberation and endorsement.

"However, we expect the bill will be endorsed and take effect
before the new ministerial cabinet (is formed in 2004)," he said.

Earlier, the director of the language center at the Ministry
of National Education, Dendy Sugono, said that the test would
function like the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
on grammar, reading comprehension, vocabulary and listening.

If one fails to pass the test, a course on Bahasa Indonesia
would be provided by the government to improve his or her
language proficiency.

"Want to work in Taiwan? Indonesian workers should be able to
speak Mandarin. Want to work in America and you will have to be
able to speak English. In the same vein, why don't we require
foreigners working here to have a mastery of Bahasa Indonesia?"
said Nuwa Wea.

"I will make it harder for foreigners to enter Indonesia for
work. We have a lot of unemployed workers so why should we employ
foreigners? Employ our own people first," said the minister.

"Only in certain positions, such as on technology fields,
employing foreigners would be acceptable. Other than that, I do
not agree with it at all".

He believes such a policy would not violate the ASEAN Free
Trade Area (AFTA) agreement on the free flow of workers in the
region.

"If we are talking about AFTA, see Malaysia. The regulation
does not apply there. Many Indonesians are still working there
illegally. If the AFTA agreement is really being implemented, why
are there still illegal workers?" he said.

According to data at the manpower ministry, the number of
foreigners working in Indonesia has reached around 30,000 and
most are employed in the industrial zones in Batam, Jakarta, East
Java, Kalimantan and Papua.

In addition, there is also Presidential Decree No. 100/1997
which allows local and foreign companies in Indonesia to recruit
expatriates for managerial positions and for positions that
cannot be filled by locals for one reason or another.

In fact, foreigners also contribute to a country's gross
domestic product (GDP) growth. In Singapore, some 41 percent of
their GDP growth in the 1990s came from foreigners. Without
overseas talent, as quoted from The Straits Times, Singapore
could not have reached an average quarterly growth of 7.8 percent
in the 1990s.