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".