Most workers still lack insurance

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.