Manpower to get tough on permit violators

Manpower to get tough on permit violators

JAKARTA (JP): City Immigration Office will take action against expatriates found to have misused their work permits, the office's chief said yesterday .

"We will not hesitate to take stern action against any expatriate found misusing their work permit," Moh. Affandi stressed. He acknowledged, however, that his office cannot monitor the activities of all foreigners living in the city.

Affandi appealed to related agencies, especially the City Manpower Office, to cooperate with keeping a close watch on foreign workers.

He explained that the immigration office issued visas for foreign workers after receiving letters of recommendation from the manpower office.

Data at the City Manpower Office indicates that there are 11,685 foreign workers in Jakarta who are employed at 8,795 companies. Most of them are from Japan and South Korea and work in the manufacturing and service sectors.

Head of the City Manpower Office, Freddy Tuamelly, last week announced 126 companies in Jakarta had violated Manpower Law no.3 issued in 1992. The companies disregarded work ethics, ignored workers' social insurance and hired foreigners with invalid work permits.

Under the rule, foreign workers in Indonesia are required to renew their work permits at latest one month before the permits expire. The immigration office says it doesn't cost anything to renew the work permits.

Freddy said he had discovered that many foreign workers didn't renew their work permits on time. "Some of them moved to other companies without informing either the immigration office or the manpower office. They should realize that by doing so they have breached the law."

He also said that his office could not effectively keep a check on foreign workers due to a lack of personnel. "We only have 92 personnel."

In the absence of tight supervision, some companies don't ask expatriates to get new work permits, employ foreign workers in the wrong positions, and accept foreign workers from other companies without proper permits.(29)