Minister pays visit to injured migrant workers

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea visited Indonesian migrant workers at the Soekanto Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, on Tuesday.

Jacob listened as the workers described the injuries they suffered at the hands of their overseas employers.

The minister has been urged by legislators and non- governmental organizations to stop sending migrant workers abroad after dozens of them have returned home with serious injuries over the last several months.

Jacob has accused labor export companies of bypassing regulations by providing workers with fake identities.

Citing an example, he pointed to a migrant worker at the hospital, Mulyati, who is really 21 but whose documents say she is 27.

"Such practices should not occur as I have passed a strict regulation that states the minimum age for migrant workers is 25," he said.

Jacob said younger workers were unable to deal with working overseas, as was the case with Mulyati.

The woman from Cianjur, West Java, was sent home after only six days in Oman because of her poor health.

"Both my legs felt like they were being stabbed with knives and I often passed out. And now I can't see anything," she told the minister, who promised to send her to the Aini Optical Hospital in South Jakarta at his own expense.

Jacob said he would demand explanations from labor export companies for any violations of the regulations. And those companies that continue to commit violations will be blacklisted.

He said migrant workers would have more protection once Ministerial Decree No. 13/2003 on worker insurance came into effect.

The insurance scheme will provide workers with compensation if they are dismissed by their employers, help them with medical expenses and will make payments to the families of any workers who die.

During his visit to the hospital, Jacob distributed Idul Fitri gifts of food to the migrant workers.