RI SARS deaths in Taiwan looked into

RI SARS deaths in Taiwan looked into

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Mataram

The government is still attempting to determine the identities of
four Indonesian nationals who recently died of Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Taiwan.

Foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said on Tuesday
the government had asked the Taiwanese government, through the
country's trade representative office here, for the information.

"We asked for the information today (on Tuesday) but have yet
to receive any response from the Taiwan side," Marty told The
Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Indonesia and Taiwan do not have diplomatic relations, due to
Jakarta's acceptance of the one-China policy, and affairs between
the two countries are handled through trade representative
offices.

Marty also said the manpower ministry was currently attempting
to identify the agency that sent the four Indonesians to Taiwan.

"We have to inform the families first before we can announce
the names of the migrant workers," he said.

Jakarta also remains in the dark about whether the Indonesians
have already been buried in Taiwan.

Three Indonesian medical workers in Taiwan died of SARS last
Sunday, two days after an Indonesian maid working in the country
succumbed to the virus.

There have been no SARS deaths in Indonesia. Two probable SARS
patients were found in the country, but one of them fled to Hong
Kong and the other has already been released from the hospital.

Taiwan is one of the countries in the region affected by SARS
and a major destination for Indonesian migrant workers. The
government has temporarily suspended the export of workers due to
the SARS outbreak.

Meanwhile, senior labor officials from the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed on the second day of their
meeting in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, to take collective
measures to prevent SARS from spreading in the workplace.

The virus is among the key issues discussed at the ongoing
meeting of ASEAN labor officials, which is a follow-up to the
recent ASEAN health ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur and the
ASEAN summit held in Bangkok to discuss SARS.

Meeting chairman Edison Situmorang said the agreement was made
after delegations from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam
expressed their concern about SARS and its impact in various
fields.

"All of the delegations at the meeting have no other
alternative but to strongly urge joint concrete measures to
control the epidemic as soon as possible, and all agreed on this
(measure) being included on the agenda of the ASEAN labor
ministerial meeting on Friday and Saturday," Edison said after
the meeting was closed.

SARS, which has affected China, Hong Kong, Canada and ASEAN
countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, has
claimed more than 300 lives and affected thousands of others in
the region.

Edison, a staff member at the manpower and transmigration
minister, said another special meeting would be held in Manila on
June 23 to formulate a joint program to prevent the spread of
SARS in the workplace and among migrant workers in the region.

"Combating the SARS epidemic will be discussed as part of the
occupational health and safety program in ASEAN member
countries," he said, adding that all the relevant authorities
were also cooperating to monitor the movement of migrant workers
in the region.