North Sumatra labor abuse claims denied

MEDAN (JP): Manpower authorities in North Sumatra deny that any workers are being abused or children put to work on the many jermal, or fishing stations, located off the east coast of the province.

The chief of the manpower ministry's North Sumatra office, I Gede Bagus Swide, said that the issues were old and baseless.

"We recently took a trip to the waters and found no child workers or labor exploitation," he told The Jakarta Post.

He also strongly denied that there was any collusion between station owners and the Navy officers that routinely patrol the local waters.

Swide, also a Navy officer, said recent complaints in local and foreign media about the poor labor conditions on the stations were aimed at discrediting the government and tarnishing the nation's image.

The International Labor Organization, at its recent meeting on the elimination of child labor in the Netherlands, expressed great concern about Indonesia's more than five million child workers.

Another local manpower official, who asked not to be identified, admitted that children were employed on most stations but said that provincial authorities were reluctant to step in due to the Navy's involvement.

"Who would dare report any case involving Navy officers or those from the Army, the Air Force or police?" he asked.

He added that it was difficult for his office to check on and supervise the labor conditions on the stations.

"We have no vessels and the jermal can only be reached during the dry season between April and October," he said. During the wet season, between November and February, only bigger ships can reach them due to high waves.

Health

Linggarjati, who heads the provincial office of PT Jamsostek, a state-owned company that runs the government's social security program for workers, refused to comment on the issue or Jamsostek's joint health program with Navy cooperatives for fishermen and jermal workers in Tanjungbalai.

"I know nothing about the jermal," he said.

He suggested that the local manpower office look into the issue with the help of the local coordinating board for marine security, Bakorkamla.

Florensius Gultom, head of the Asahan branch office of Jamsostek in Kisaran, some 117 kilometers south of Medan, said Jamsostek would ask the local Bakorkamla branch to pressure jermal owners into complying with labor laws and improving the welfare of their workers.

"Jermal employing 10 or more workers must pay their workers in accordance with minimum wage regulations and sign up their workers for the Jamsostek social security program as stipulated by Law No. 3/1992," he said.

He admitted that his office had yet to collect data on the number of workers and fishing stations in the area, though local manpower data puts the number of stations at around 140 and the number of workers at nearly 1,400.

Gultom said it was difficult to catch up with jermal owners because most of them lived in Medan and his office had no boats to reach the stations. He also slammed the local chapter of the Indonesian Fishermen Association (HSNI) for doing nothing about the poor labor conditions.

"The jermal issue has been raised several times by local and foreign media and the local HNSI has been urged many times to protect jermal workers, but no efforts have been made to improve the conditions," he said.

PT Jamsostek's operations director, Budi Maryoto, said that workers would continue to be abused on the jermal if the government did not enforce labor laws.

He added that the government also had to address the roots of the problem.

"Young people and children would not be going to the jermal looking for work if they and their families were better off economically. The workers also wouldn't be paid so little if they were recruited properly," he said.

Navy officials have admitted that many officers stationed on ships in North Sumatran waters had committed violations during their patrolling of the jermal.

"A team from the Navy's inspectorate general recently looked into the jermal issue. We found several mistakes and violations committed by Navy officers in their patrol operations," Navy spokesman Col. Mualimin Santoso said in a recent interview with the Post in Jakarta.

He said any officer found guilty of extorting money from station owners or workers or any other abuse of power would be punished.

He said the Navy was open to criticism and asked the public to report any violation or irregularity involving its officers. (rms)