More W. Java people to work abroad

BANDUNG: The number of West Java residents working abroad will probably increase this year, judging from the growing number of people applying for passports to work overseas.

The head of the local immigration office in Bandung, Riawan Pramudjo, said on Thursday that until August this year as many as 1,139 job seekers had applied for passports to work in neighboring countries.

"The number is twice as much as that of the same period last year," Riawan told The Jakarta Post. "We recorded only 531 people applying for passports to work abroad last year."

"This month alone as many as 300 passports are being processed. We have had to work overtime."

He said the passport applicants were people who had been legally recruited through state-owned recruitment company PJ TKI.

More than half of the job seekers were women from the towns of Cianjur, Sukabumi, Sumedang, Majalengka and Cirebon.

"Surprisingly most of them want to work in Malaysia, Japan and Taiwan. Only four or five of them want to work in the Gulf countries," he said. (25/sur)