RI stops export of informal workers
RI stops export of informal workers
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian government has suspended the export of migrant
workers with jobs in the informal sector in all designated
countries citing the workers' incompetence and language barriers.
In his letter dated Feb. 10 sent to all governors, regents,
mayors, the Association of Indonesian Labor Export Companies and
all its members, as well as the Migrant Workers Placement Service
Body, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said
the decision was made after "a thorough analysis" that the
country's migrant workers for informal jobs, such as housemaids,
were both unskilled and unable to master languages in the
countries they were placed.
"These (shortcomings) happen because most labor export firms
have not provided enough job and language training before they
send the workers," Jacob said in his letter.
Jacob categorized informal migrant workers into housemaids,
baby sitters and caregivers for the elderly.
Any migrant workers who have completed all requirements for
placement before Feb. 1 are exempted from the suspension, but
their departure must take place before Feb. 28.
There are around 4 million Indonesians working overseas,
mostly in the informal sector. Indonesia has been exporting
informal migrant workers to the Middle East and Asia-Pacific
regions for decades.
The manpower ministry had issued on Feb. 1 a circular to all
labor export companies, ordering them to stop sending workers to
the Middle East due to the escalating tension in Iraq.
Jacob said in his latest letter that the country's informal
migrant workers were "psychologically immature" and lacked
knowledge of local cultures and conditions of their prospective
work places.
The minister said those problems greatly contributed to the
high number of fatal accidents involving Indonesian informal
migrant workers. The ministry data showed that at least 75
Indonesian housemaids had fallen to death from their employers'
apartments in Singapore since 1999.
"Based on these facts, the ministry has made a decision not to
focus on quantity but quality of migrant workers to be sent to
overseas," Jacob said.
In the future, the ministry will apply a quota policy on each
labor export agency, in a bid to prevent over-supply in the
placement of workers overseas.
Jacob said during the suspension period, all labor import
companies were required to provide job and language training, as
well as religious teaching appropriate for each culture.
The suspension has sparked protests from the association of
labor export companies (Apjati), which accused the government of
shifting the blame and seeking a scapegoat for the long-standing
problems facing the country's migrant workers.
Apjati chairman Husein Alaydrus said labor export companies
were not obliged to provide training for prospective migrant
workers in the first place but simply to send them overseas.
He said the licenses obtained by the companies allowed them to
place migrant workers, whereas the responsibility to improve the
quality of migrant workers was given to companies other than
Apjati members.
"The responsibility to improve skills and language proficiency
of migrant workers is held by a special institution known as
overseas employment training agencies which are authorized by the
Directorate General of Domestic Labor Placement," Husein said.
He said some Apjati members also operate training agencies but
it did not mean that the labor export companies could be held
responsible for the poor quality of the migrant workers.
The ministerial decree No. 104A/2002 issued by Jacob last year
makes it clear that labor export companies are not responsible
for training for prospective migrant workers. Training courses
are not a requirement to obtain a license to start a labor export
company.
Husein suggested that during the period of suspension, the
manpower ministry should improve the mechanism to accredit
migrant workers' training providers.
"If the improvement is not done, the suspension will mean
nothing," Husein said.