Migrants produce bountiful harvest

Migrants produce bountiful harvest

Antara, Padang, West Sumatra

West Sumatra will aim to increase its level of migrant labor
as the provincial government's remittance from the supplying of
around 12,000 workers to Malaysia is higher than its annual
income from economic development in the province (PAD).

"The total amount of money sent by 12,000 West Sumatra workers
employed in Malaysia to their relatives in the province last year
reached Rp 96 billion while the provincial government's income
was only Rp 90 billion," Tafyani, chairman of the consortium of
West Sumatra labor exporters, said in Padang, West Sumatra, on
Saturday.

Tafyani explained that the monthly gross salary of an
Indonesian worker in Malaysia was on average 1,000 ringgit (Rp
2.5 million) and if 12,000 West Sumatra workers employed in the
neighboring country each sent 300 ringgit monthly to their
relatives, the funds would total Rp 96 billion annually.

The amount of money that workers sent to their relatives had
helped to accelerate the province's economic development, he
said.

He added that the substantial contribution made by migrant
workers had so far never arisen because of the sensitive issue of
illegal migrant workers and the frequent disputes that occur with
foreign employers.

In line with the issue, he said, labor exporters in the
province would provide adequate training to improve the skills of
workers to prevent them from getting into trouble with their
employers overseas.

"Many Indonesian workers employed as domestic helpers have
frequently got into trouble with their employers abroad as they
have few skills and problems with communication," he said.

Husein Alaydrus, chairman of the Indonesian labor Export
Association (Apjati), said many workers who illegally migrated
overseas had often got into trouble because they had not received
any training beforehand.

Apjati, therefore, would continue to reduce the supply of
illegal workers to the minimum and renew the official procedures
for migrants so as to improve legal protection for Indonesian
workers overseas.

Meanwhile, Governor of West Sumatra Zainal Bakar, appreciated
that the labor export program would help the province cope with
the alarmingly high level of local unemployment.

He said the setting up of a branch of Apjati in the province
was expected to be able to improve the quality of workers and to
accelerate the migration of workers.