Learn from RP in treatment of workers, Jacob says

Learn from RP in treatment of workers, Jacob says

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In Manila, workers returning from overseas are welcomed like
heroes. In Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport, they will be met by
an army of hungry officials herding them into Terminal III to be
extorted.

The sinister comparison between the contrasting ways the two
countries treat their overseas workers was made by Minister of
Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea on Tuesday.

Jacob, who is also chairman of the Federation of All-
Indonesian Labor Unions, was recounting experiences from his
visit to the Philippines last week.

His conclusion is that the Philippines treat their returning
migrant workers much more humanely than Indonesia does. In the
Philippines, the returning workers receive privileges at the
airport. Their Indonesian counterparts become targets of
extortion.

Indonesia has over a million workers overseas, most notably in
Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Unlike Indonesian migrant workers, the Filipinos are not
discriminated against. At airports in the Philippines, they are
provided with special lanes for a speedy exit, Jacob said.

He identified the officials who extort workers in Terminal III
at Soekarno-Hatta as those from his own ministry, labor exporting
associations, customs and excise, immigration and transportation
officials, Antara reported.

The low level of education among Indonesian migrant workers
aggravates the problem, Jacob said. Most of them have elementary
and junior secondary schooling backgrounds, or are even
illiterate.

The government has raised the minimum educational level to
junior high school.

In response to public complaints about terrible service, the
Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration has been reforming the
bureaucratic procedures at Terminal III.

The ministry has liquidated the Team for Returning Migrant
Workers and Team for Worker Transportation, which were seen as
part of the problem.

Terminal III will be managed by the Labor Suppliers
Association (PJTKI), which is responsible for the safety of
migrant workers from their departure until their arrival back
home.

Yunus Yamani, a former executive of the Team for Returning
Migrant Workers, said the manpower ministry had failed to follow
up on the numerous reports of corrupt practices at Terminal III.

He said that, what is needed now is the government's
determination and proper law enforcement to stop extortion and
other corrupt practices at Terminal III.

"Unless the law is enforced, nothing will change at Terminal
III -- whoever manages it," he said.

Poor service is only one of the numerous plights that migrant
workers have to deal with. There are also a series of fees, legal
or otherwise, that workers consider too burdensome.

Al Ikhlas Autonomous Body, an association of labor suppliers
specializing in sending Indonesian workers to Saudi Arabia,
acknowledged on Tuesday that it charged each worker an US$11
protection fee.

"The rule began on Oct. 15, 2001. The money will be used to
help workers who have problems in Saudi Arabia," Al Ikhlas
chairman Rusjdi Bahasuan said in Jakarta.

At the average rate of Rp 10,000 per dollar and with 15,000
workers dispatched to Saudi Arabia each month, Al Ikhlas will
amass Rp 1.65 billion a month.

Rusjdi promised that Al Ikhlas would be accountable to the
workers in managing the funds.