RI to establish agency to raise labor exports

RI to establish agency to raise labor exports

JAKARTA (JP): The meeting of labor exporters ended here yesterday recommending the establishment of an independent agency to promote the business and to better protect Indonesian workers abroad.

The meeting also decided that the agency should be manned by representatives of the labor export companies, manpower experts, banks, government officials as well as the receiving countries.

The agency should also design strategies for market expansion and devise ways to provide better legal protection for workers, it was suggested. However, there were no details as to when the body is to be established.

"The agency should be able to provide thorough solutions to the problems that Indonesia faces in promoting labor exports," Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said.

The three-day meeting was filled with discussions among senior government officials, experts, as well as representatives of 154 labor exporters, private and state-owned banks, provincial administrations and 12 ambassadors of importing countries.

The minister voiced an old grievance about how two of the biggest problems that Indonesia faces are unskilled workers and the limited market.

"Our market is still limited to a few countries which require only low-skilled workers," he said.

"With this agency, we will try to expand our labor market and start sending skilled and professional workers to developed countries such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, and European countries," he said.

Another problem that Latief again spoke of in the meeting yesterday was the poor legal protection for Indonesian workers abroad. He cited the differences in legal systems between Indonesia and the importing countries as one of the reasons.

Foreign workers employed as domestics in Saudi Arabia, for example, fall into the jurisdiction of the country's home affairs rather than its manpower ministry, Latief said.

"The agency, once it's established, should be able to play a role in bridging these differences in order to give workers maximum legal protection," he said.

Chairman of the Association of Labor Export Companies (APJATI) Mahfudz Djaelani said labor export is a "sensitive business" because the commodity exported are human beings.

"The labor exporters need constantly to be on the alert," he said.

He cited a number of cases where Indonesian workers' rights were abused, and where it was Indonesians who broke the laws in the countries in which they were employed.

Some female workers in Malaysia, for instance, were forced to become prostitutes, he said.

"We cannot turn a blind eye to these problems because they could tarnish Indonesia's image," he said.

He pointed out that Indonesia is facing ever stiffer competition with other labor-exporting countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and China.

Anthon Sihombing, president of PT Luhur Asa Vrima company, refused to be blamed for problems that occurred because of the poor quality of the workers. "Most of the companies don't have the financial resources to provide adequate training for the workers to be sent abroad," he said.

"Banks should provide special loan schemes for the labor exporters so that they can provide training for workers," he said. (rms)