More back-up for RI workers abroad
More back-up for RI workers abroad
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesian workers abroad will get more legal protection as the
House of Representatives (DPR) agreed on Monday to deliberate a
bill on the protection of migrant workers.
At a plenary meeting headed by deputy House speaker Muhaimin
Iskandar, all nine factions gave support to the bill, which was
outlined by the House's Legislation Bureau.
During the plenary, most of the factions expressed concern
over the frequent mistreatment of Indonesian workers by their
local labor exporters, their employers abroad and by unscrupulous
officials upon their return to Indonesia.
Muhaimin of the National Awakening Party (PKB) remarked that
with the bill, the government should be more serious in dealing
with labor issues, especially problems faced by migrant workers.
"We hope this bill will pressurize the government to be more
serious in providing protection for workers, including migrant
workers," Muhaimin said.
Spokesman of the Indonesian Military (TNI)/Police faction
Muryono said that legal protection provided by the government now
was not enough, and therefore the bill was needed to protect
migrant workers.
"We hope this bill can improve coordination between the
offices concerned," Muryono added.
Fellow legislators Rekso Ageng Herman of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction and Mariani
Akib Baramuli of the Golkar faction agreed, saying that the bill
should provide better protection for migrant workers.
The bill would provide protection for migrant workers from the
time of their recruitment by labor exporting agencies to their
return to Indonesia.
The bill requires that the government ensure the workers are
treated properly, both here in the country and when they are
working abroad.
The initiative of legislators to propose a bill on migrant
worker protection was prompted by the frequent abuse of
Indonesians working abroad by either their employers or workers'
agents.
Many Indonesian workers were at the receiving end of physical
and sexual abuse, and others were sent home penniless.
The latest incident was the expulsion of hundreds of thousands
of Indonesian illegal workers in Malaysia. Many were stranded in
the border town of Nunukan, East Kalimantan, and dozens died in
Nunukan or on the way home.
Currently, the government and legislators are deliberating two
bills on the settlement of industrial disputes and on labor
protection. Those two bills, however, provide regulations
regarding the relations between workers and their employers in
Indonesia.
Deputy House speaker Muhaimin Iskandar said that the bill on
the protection of Indonesian labors working abroad would be
deliberated in the next sitting, due to start on Jan.3.
"We have no time to discuss it (the bill) now," he said,
referring to the current sitting, which will finish on Nov. 29.