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)