Manpower companies to tighten procedures

Manpower companies to tighten procedures

JAKARTA (JP): In compliance to government demand, Indonesian
manpower supply companies say they will tighten the procedures
for sending workers to Singapore and Malaysia.

To enhance legal protection of Indonesian workers in the two
neighboring countries, executives from manpower supply companies
plan to meet with executives from Singaporean and Malaysian
employment agencies later this month.

Anthon Sihombing, president director of PT Luhur Asa Vrima,
said on Saturday that the meeting, planned for May 26-27 in
Jakarta, would chiefly address legal protection for Indonesian
workers.

A group of manpower supply companies which specialize in
sending workers to Singapore and Malaysia met on Saturday to
discuss their common problems and come up with a strategy to face
the government's demand that these companies take greater
responsibility in ensuring the welfare and protection of the
workers they send.

"We agreed at the meeting to provide intensive training for
the workers before they are sent abroad," Anthon said after
attending the meeting.

Participants at the meeting also agreed to enforce the minimum
wage level and provide social security for the workers, he said.

He noted that Malaysian and Singaporean employment agencies
have recently raised their handling fees to one month's salary
for each worker. This is to meet the increasing demands imposed
on them to ensure better legal protection for the workers.

Adding more clauses to the employment contracts may help
protect the workers, Anthon said. The provision of social
security for the workers was one example he cited.

Anthon said Indonesian manpower supply companies have endorsed
the increase in minimum wage that Indonesian workers should get
in these two countries.

In Singapore, the level has been set at S$300 a month for an
unskilled worker, and S$350 for a skilled worker. In Malaysia,
the minimum wage levels are M$350 and M$400 respectively.

There are currently 600,000 Indonesians working in Malaysia
and 25,000 in Singapore, according to official estimates.

Risal Isa Soelaiman, president director of PT Windu Sarana
Development, stressed the importance of providing training for
Indonesian workers before they are sent abroad.

Indonesian workers are facing fierce competition from other
major suppliers such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Vietnam, the
Philippines, Myanmar and China, he pointed out.

Anthon said the success of Indonesia's program to send workers
abroad depends on government support, particularly from the
Ministry of Manpower. "Without close cooperation with the
government, we will lose out to the other countries."

He said that the government's program of sending workers
overseas was designed not to enrich the manpower supply
companies, but to ease unemployment in the country and to bolster
Indonesia's foreign exchange revenues through the repatriation of
the workers' earnings. (rms)