Most workers still lack insurance
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta
Most Indonesian workers, both at home and overseas, remain unprotected, but the government appears reluctant to provide them with the sort of insurance cover they need, the president of the state social insurance provider says.
The president of state-owned insurance company PT Jamsostek, Achmad Junaidi, blamed the lack of worker protection on the weak enforcement of Law No. 3/1992 on national social security (Jamsostek), which requires employers, foundations and other organizations to pay premiums for their employees into the insurance scheme.
"Only 25 percent, or 23 million, of almost 90 million workers have been registered as members of social security programs while the majority, including the unemployed and those in the informal sector, remain unprotected," Junaidi told The Jakarta Post here over the weekend.
He asserted that social security was a right of employees under the law which the government was required to provide through their employers.
"There is a common misperception that the social security law applies only to workers employed in industrial estates. In reality, the programs are compulsory for all companies, businesses, organizations and institutions employing at least 10 workers, or paying Rp 1 million (US$120) or more in total salaries to their workers," he said.
Some companies and other organizations had failed to enroll their employees in social security programs due to financial constraints or the employees' refusal to take part in the schemes, Junaidi said.
But many other companies, foundations and organizations had enrolled only a small percentage of their employees in the social security scheme and did not report the true amount of their workers' gross monthly salaries to avoid paying higher premiums as between 4 percent and 7 percent of the workers' insurance premiums are paid by their employers.
Jamsostek's total asset of Rp 23 trillion are invested in the stock market and state banks, but it has rejected all suggestions that it merge with other state-owned insurance companies to form a larger national social security provider for all people as part of its funds are raised from employers, who are loathe to cross- subsidize the unemployed, civil servants and servicemen.
Jamsostek's operations and services director, Indra Haryadi, said that under the current programs, workers suffering illnesses or who suffered occupational accidents in their workplaces had the right to receive "class A" medical services at state-run hospitals and "class B" services at private hospitals across the country.
The dependents of workers killed during the course of their employment are entitled to receive 4,200 percent of their gross monthly salary in compensation and employees who have worked for five years or more are allowed to take their pension as a lump sum if they are dismissed or resign, he added.
Besides running occupational accident, health care, bereavement and pension programs, Jamsostek in cooperation with state and private hospitals has established 26 trauma centers to minimize the impact of occupational accidents and fatalities in industrial zones across the country
Jamsostek data reveals that the number of occupational accidents decreased to 20,937 in the first quarter of 2004 from more than 36,000 during the same period in 2003.
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea admitted the government was facing difficulties in enforcing the social insurance law due to the absence of coordination between his office and local governments.
He also conceded that many Indonesian migrant workers overseas were not protected as they had obtained employment abroad illegally.