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.