More Indonesians seek work in Taiwan
More Indonesians seek work in Taiwan
Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After a gap of three years, the number of Indonesian people
visiting the Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Jakarta
for visa purposes has jumped significantly, a Taiwanese official
said in Jakarta.
Most of these Indonesians are hoping to work in Taiwan, one of
the two preferred destinations for Indonesian workers given
Taiwan's reputation for high pay and good labor laws. The other
is Hong Kong.
"Ever since we signed a memorandum of understanding on labor
cooperation with Indonesia's Ministry of Manpower and
Transmigration in December 2004 in Bali, the sending of
Indonesian workers to Taiwan has been growing significantly. Last
month my office issued 7,355 visas, a huge jump from just 12
visas in January," the head of the TETO, David Y. Lin, said on
Monday at a press conference in Jakarta.
During the last two months, he said, Taiwan has been
recruiting more workers from Indonesia than any other Southeast
Asian country. Up to the end of July, the TETO had issued 19,309
visas to Indonesian workers. This number may grow significantly
in the coming months.
"We have been issuing an average of 250 visas daily. Starting
this week, we are introducing a new system called MRV (Machine-
readable Visas), which will enable us to issue up to 350 visas
per day," Lin said.
Taiwan needs hundreds of thousands of foreign workers for its
manufacturing, construction and household sectors.
"Most of our employers favor Indonesian workers because they
are very hard working and obedient. Indonesian workers also like
to work in Taiwan because of the high salaries and other
benefits. Our minimum wage is around US$500 per month. All labor
laws, including the minimum wage regulations, apply equally to
foreign workers," Lin said.
In 2002, Taiwan banned the recruitment of Indonesian workers
due to the high charges imposed on the workers by labor agencies
in both Indonesia and Taiwan. The Taiwanese government had said
it wanted to provide a legal framework aimed at ensuring less
extortion of workers. But the previous Indonesian government
delayed the signing of an MOU on labor cooperation with Taiwan.
"Thanks to the initiative of (then) Minister of Manpower and
Transmigration Fahmi Idris, both governments were able to sign
the MOU last December. Now thousands of Indonesians, mostly
unskilled workers, are getting jobs with high salaries and legal
protection," Lin said.
Indonesia does not maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan
because of its "One China Policy".