Minister pays visit to injured migrant workers

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.