Reduction of expat workers sought

JAKARTA (JP): Legislators are calling on the government to selectively reduce the number of foreign workers in Indonesia to help reduce the burdens on the troubled national economy.

"Expatriate workers, mostly paid in U.S. dollars, should be repatriated selectively since our country is experiencing a monetary crisis," said Muchsin Bafadal of the United Development Party faction.

Bafadal, a member of House Commission V for manpower, industry and trade, cited the restaurant and hotel industry as sectors where the number of foreign workers could be reduced.

He said qualified local workers could take over the positions.

"We are in an incredible economic turmoil. It is only natural that we repatriate foreign workers," Bafadal said.

But Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said yesterday that it was not necessary for the government to undertake such a program because the companies would downsize themselves according to their needs.

Latief said companies would "automatically" switch to using local workers once they could no longer afford to pay expatriate workers, whose salary was paid in U.S. dollars.

The rupiah has plunged against the U.S. dollar in the last six months from an average of about 2,400 to 9,000.

"The depreciation of the rupiah has made foreign workers extremely expensive, and many companies are unable to pay them," Latief told journalists at his office.

"I've even heard of a foreign company here that has sent all their expatriate workers home because they found it hard to pay them."

According to Latief, about US$3 billion is spent annually on paying for about 70,000 expatriate workers in the country.

Latief quipped that the current situation may be a blessing in disguise for local workers as it provides new opportunities for them.

He added that the government would start the promised labor- intensive projects, planned to help unemployed, unskilled workers, next week.

Latief claimed that the projects, to be managed by provincial administrations, would employ about 900,000 unskilled laborers nationwide. (10/aan)