Regions accused of ethnic discrimination in the workplace

Panca Nugraha, The Jakarta Post, Mataram

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said on Tuesday that the early implementation of the regional autonomy law had brought about one negative impact so far: ethnic discrimination in the workplace.

Discrimination varies among regions, but the most obvious is the preference of locals to migrants from outside the regencies or provinces.

This has been a direct result of the misinterpretation of Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy.

"The misinterpretation has apparently affected laborers," he said after attending a Muhammadiyah meeting at Lombok Raya Hotel in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara.

"There is ethnic discrimination in many regencies where they employ locals. Fees have been imposed on workers or employees from other regencies," said Jacob.

Jacob noted that discrimination in the workplace violates both national and international laws.

Indonesia's Law No. 14/1969 on labor clearly bans discrimination in the workplace.

In addition, Indonesia ratified two years ago the International Labor Organization (ILO) convention against discrimination in the workplace.

Jacob said no single region was allowed to draft labor regulations that contradict the Labor Law and some international conventions that Indonesia has ratified, including the ILO convention.

"Indonesia ratified some international laws (related to manpower), we must therefore impose similar laws in all parts of the country," he said.

The Regional Autonomy Law was not designed to grant each region freedom to impose their own employment regulations that would allow ethnic discrimination as it could endanger the unity of Indonesia, he said.

"Regional autonomy has been misunderstood. The Regional Autonomy Law was made within the frame of the unitary state of Indonesia. Workers from West Nusa Tenggara can work in Irian Jaya or other areas," he said.

He noted that the discrimination had occurred because each regency or mayoralty had made its own interpretation of regional autonomy.

"Its misinterpretation is also happening in the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration. The names at the ministry's office vary in some regencies," he said.

The regional autonomy law governs autonomy in regencies and mayoralties, but not in provinces.

Jacob, nevertheless, said regional autonomy ideally started with the provinces first, and then went down to regencies and mayoralties. This way, its familiarization would be more effective, although it may take longer.

Months before the law was put into effect on Jan. 1 of this year, the central government had launched a campaign to introduce regional autonomy programs to the provinces. Regents and mayors joined the campaign.

Speaking on transmigration programs, Jacob said that land- related problems were the main constraint.

"In the past, transmigration was just moving people from a densely populated area to another more spacious area, ignoring the fact that many locals did not receive compensation for their land which was used for transmigration sites," he cited. "Now many landowners are demanding compensation."

"Compensation must be paid before resettlement programs can continue," he said.